#FanSpeak -- FC Goa had to take on more than just an opponent team yesterday

On a night when forces of nature and questionable decisions seem to go against them, FC Goa showed much needed grit to slug out a hard fought draw in Kolkata. A much lauded effort considering they landed hardly a few hours before kickoff due to technical aircraft snags and late arrival of kit to the venue forcing the team to go through training sessions in sneakers.

If the above obstacles were challenging enough to get through than they found themselves at the receiving end of an amateurish like interpretation of the handball ruling when the Referee penalised Ali on a Ritesh cross. To be fair to Ali, his hands were in a complete vertical close to his hips and in no way blocking or altering the direction of the cross. But if FC Goa were hard done by their decision then they should be blaming themselves for the cross when Sariton mistimed his jump allowing Keane a free header. The logic of not posting a defender at the far post also needs to be questioned as well.

The momentum, bar a lovely Mandar effort, was clearly on Kolkata’s side with  Keane at heart of  two swift counter moves. Robbie Keane for a 37 year old is a fantastic case study for budding youngsters in the country to observe. Upon gathering possession and initiating the counter, he deferred the ball to Zequinha prior to making intelligent cross field movements to the left which would perfectly position him to cut in and take shots on his favoured right foot. Goa managed to weather the initial storm and equalise against the run of play. Though leading to the build up, there was a clear infringement by Bruno on Pereira which was correctly flagged by the linesman and ATK players including Ashutosh who was marking Coro stopped in their tracks but Ref S Krishna erroneously played advantage. Coro with the extra yard gained on his marker applied a cool finish past Debjit clearly establishing his status as ISL’s top marksman.

It felt fair enough that 2 contentious decisions cancelled each other out but unfortunately for Goa, two key moments were lost on subsequent decisions made. Firstly, the Prabir foul on Narayan was a sending off in my opinion. There was a clenched fist aimed twice at Narayan’s head and followed by a kick out that even though missed should have been a straight red for intent alone. This is where clarity and training for national referees is imperative so they are consistent with what is being followed by other leagues across Europe. 

The 2nd foul was probably even more clearly cut when Prabir again aimed a kick at Coro that missed and then fouled Brandon inside the box. The spade of uprooted grass was a dead giveaway as to the exact spot where the foul was committed. Neither was a penalty given nor a 2nd yellow card for fouling a player en route towards goal. Just one of those decisions called correctly would have tilted the game in Goa’s favour. ATK Coach Sheringhnam did the smart thing by hooking Prabir off at HT.

As the game wore on, both teams had their chances but given how open and end to end the game was, there were a few tired legs. It was a good result to walk away with given everything that went down. FC Goa stuck to their game plan as they always have through the course of this league. Notable mention would be Ali who after a disappointing game against Pune had a much stronger outing. He made a crucial block on Zequinha in the 44th minute on the edge of the box and in what seemed like a 2nd half adjustment, he was more aggressive in closing down and applying the high press on Keane, Ze and Taylor. It was risky at times but still didn’t allow ATK to have a clear run at FC Goa’s defense. There were still moments like when Keane exploited a gap between him and Narayan early on but he’s a young center back learning his craft. Hopefully he can build up from here.

I'd like to end on a footnote with regards to the referring standards. It doesn’t serve purpose to criticise but find solutions. First of all, I personally don’t see the need for referees to feel obligated to explain or plead to players to maintain discipline. The British league had this same issue when players would gang up and remonstrate to referees but not until the decision was made that such behaviour wouldn’t be tolerated and punished with warnings that it has receded considerably. Secondly, there should be constructive interpretations of certain rules followed by consistency. What has happened this season, with the ISL and I League running simultaneously, it has placed a considerable strain on the availability of experienced referees and as is the case tends to impact on games.

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