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FC Goa make a point against Laurent Blanc’s Al Rayyan in Asian Champions League
Al Rayyan better than UAE national team, says skipper Edu Bedia; this point is very important for Indian football, says midfielder Jorge Ortiz.
“In the pitch you saw everybody in good spirit but believe me, one hour before our hearts were going thump, thump,” said Juan Ferrando, the FC Goa coach. The 10:30pm kick-off on Wednesday meant that when Ferrando was speaking to the media after making history, a new day had begun. India’s debut in the Asian Champions League and FC Goa’s taking a point from the first game was one day old.
Third in Qatar Stars League last term, Al Rayyan had 56% possession but their attacks came with the regularity of waves making landfall. It left FC Goa battered and bruised but through grit and gumption in equal measure, they forced a 0-0 draw. One that felt like a win. Post-match, Ferrando and Laurent Blanc, the Al Rayyan coach, fist bumped as equals and not as someone having a fan boy moment with a World Cup winner.
Making his first start for FC Goa, Ishan Pandita defended from the front. The striker ran so much that it seemed his legs would give way when Ferrando took him off in the 86th minute. What began with Pandita coursed through the spine with Edu Bedia and Glan Martins snapping at the heels of Al Rayyan’s black shirts in the midfield. “We had worked on this. The coach had told us which areas to press,” said Martins. Mopping up what the midfielders couldn’t were central defenders James Donachie and Ivan Gonzalez.
They were the first among equals in an FC Goa team whose defending was greater than the sum of its parts. Goalkeeper Dheeraj Singh made a save early off Naif Al Hadhrami and one in the 86th minute off Yohan Boli but wasn’t used for target practice.
“We knew who we were playing and everybody was thinking about the need to concentrate, not just as individuals. We knew one versus one Al Rayyan were better than us but if we play like a team, we’ll see,” said Ferrando.
Prior to day’s second Group E game--last year’s runners-up, Iran's Persepolis beat UAE's Al Wahda 1-0 in the first--the Spaniard Bedia had spoken of his experience of being in “the inferior team” in La Liga and Europa League. “It can be difficult when you have to run the yards without having much of the ball. There will be moments that will be difficult for us and in those moments we have to stay strong and focussed,” he had said. On the evidence of Wednesday, FC Goa have learnt that well.
“Very proud of this team,” said Bedia on Thursday while watching a rerun of the game. “I have been in India for four years and yesterday was the best game we played by far. I told the players that this team is much better than the UAE national team to which the national team of India lost 6-0.” Attacking midfielder Jorge Ortiz said: “This point is important for Indian football.”
That Al Rayyan had 12 shots on goal but only three on target told its own story. “It was difficult to play in the heat. We controlled 60-65% of the game but couldn’t score. FC Goa showed a lot of discipline in defending. Lot of respect for Goa,” said Blanc, the former France defender and member of the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European championship winning squads.
Keeping a watch on Yacine Brahimi, adjudged Player of the Match, was Seriton Fernandes. “Please keep supporting us,” said the right-back as someone yelled over him, “say Yacine is 28 crore, me 40 crore.”
The quality of Al Rayyan’s press led to an early wobble and generally made it difficult for FC Goa to break forward but Alexander Romario forced the night’s first corner-kick with a long-ranger that troubled Fahad Younes--Goa had five corner-kicks; Al Rayyan had one. In the 76th minute, FC Goa had a penalty shout turned down after the ball hit the hand of Mohammed Alaaeldin. Most of the night Fernandes was just defending but when he could, he also drove deep into rival territory. “The coach told me to go forward and not look at the back,” he said.
Ferrando said the draw was a “good experience” ahead of Saturday’s game against Al Wahda. “We know what is the problem and the solution,” he said.
“If we play like this against Al Wahda we could even win,” said Ortiz.
