Coaches exchange words as Goa gears up for 'Samba Duel'

THE MATCH BETWEEN FC Goa and Delhi Dynamos at Fatorda stadium tomorrow is being billed as a battle between two Brazilian greats, Zico and Roberto Carlos. These two highly creative players have been regarded as one of the best players in their respective generations. Both have worn the Brazilian colours for a long time. Both have won the World Cup for their country. And now, for the first time, they are facing each other, thousands of miles away from their homeland, in Goa. 

Zico, the manager of FC Goa, and Roberto Carlos, the new player-coach of Delhi Dynamos, spoke to the media in a pre-match press-conference at the stadium. And they had their own perspectives on the high-voltage clash coming up tomorrow. 

For Roberto Carlos, this is a special match. As one of his predecessors in Brazilian football, Zico is well respected by Carlos, and he looks at this match as a continuation of the long footballing journey they have undertaken together,

“It’s going to be a contest between a student and a teacher and also a father and a son. I know and have worked with Zico in my past years in my time in Turkey for Fenerbache. I look back at those times as one of the greatest both personally and professionally.”

Zico, however, was more tongue-in-cheek. He spoke of Carlos with affection, but brushed off the angle of the match being viewed as a battle between the two,

"Roberto is a good player and a jolly guy to be around. But when it come to coaching, he can't know more than me."

At the centre of this face-off between Brazilian coaches, there are the 7 Brazilian players that Zico has built into the core of the FC Goa team, helmed by another player who served for a long time in the Brazilian team, Lucio. Lucio and Carlos were colleagues in the team that won the FIFA World Cup 2002. So there was little doubt that he would get dragged into this drummed-up duel. But Zico was quick to push all that aside, and put the focus on a larger goal that FC Goa are pursuing this season,

"I have no expectations from individuals but I expect a lot from the team as a whole... there is a lot of pressure on FC Goa to win it this year, but I just want every player to give it their 100 percent."

This is the first ISL that Carlos has been a part of, and as a young coach his perspective on the upcoming season differs from that of the season Zico, 

"I'm not overly concerned about strategy, just go out and play and have fun... everyone talks system, the best system is the one that wins. I have got the players to win its time for them to show it."

As for his own dual role, Carlos did not want to talk it up,

"I have come here to play and am thankful to Hero ISL for giving me this opportunity."

But with the heat around the match already rising and tickets to the game nearly sold out, he and his Pride can expect anything but a friendly welcome from the home crowd when the ball is set rolling tomorrow night.