Coppell delighted after win; Zico apologises for defeat

Kerala from early on, had kept the Goa defence on their toes but were unable to get a shot on target. And all of a sudden FC Goa took the lead with their only try on goal. But the second half, the Goa defence was caught off guard and struck with a quick goal. Belfort won the game for Kerala with good strike from a distance to seal the victory.

At the post-match press conference, both coaches spoke to the media. Obviously delighted with the win, Coppell shared his views saying,

"Well any kind of win pleases me and I said before the game the league is very tight and to come here and pick up a victory in the second game of a four-game away spell, it means a lot to not just me but the players as well. We are very grateful to get the three points in the manner we did and I think we played really well”

Coppell further said,

“I think we got in a lot of attacking play. I was pleased that we kept going and didn’t lose our shape in the game and the way we wanted to play and I think all the work that Goa did in the first half cost them in the second half as Goa had only three days to recover from their previous game and working so hard in the first made the second half difficult for them but we are glad with getting the three points and now we go on to Chennai.”

A dejected Zico after his fourth loss of the season said,

“I want to apologies to all the fans, we couldn't deliver the best result but we still have quite a few matches ahead of us, if we can win at least two matches quickly our situation will improve. I don't want to make comparisons between this team and last year's team. There is a lot of difference. We had problems building this team since the beginning, so there should not be comparisons with last year's team”

Coppell talking about the quick goal scored at the start of the second half, which saw Lucio starting in place of Joffre said,

“I don’t think that has anything to do with Lucio. In the first half we were threatening to score goals, we got a lot of crosses, situations which were promising and Rafique broke well going wide and a terrific cross coming in and Rafi does what Rafi does as he is always there and that gave us motivation to do well and something to play for and Belfort’s goal was amazing.”

Zico prior to the game had said he did not like the defensive and man-marking policy of Kerala but had a different opinion after the the good run yesterday. He said,

“I was not surprised because they had a lot of rest-days, I knew they would press us, it was the game we were expecting so this was not the reason we lost the game.”

Commenting on the injury of Chopra after he missed a sitter said,

“It’s thigh strain we think. He will have an MRI tomorrow to see how bad it is. Hopefully it is not that bad. As you say he has been an important part of our play, he links the game, he understands the game. He is a man of great experience so we want him fit, we want him to be playing and not sit on the sidelines"

About the poor form that Goa is going through and the plan for the upcoming matches,Zico said,

"It is not time to plan anything now, we have to check how the players are reacting, and we have to prepare and play well in the next game to win and take our tally to seven points and start the second phase with seven points.”

Hengbart was accompanying Coppell for the press conference. On his partnership with Marquee Aaron Hughes, Hengbart shared,

“Yes it was a very difficult game and it is easy with Aaron because he is very intelligent and smart so we try to keep our focus on the match.”

Rafael was part of the bench strength for FC Goa. Zico provided an update on his fitness saying,

“Rafael still has a problem with his eye, he has not been practising with us, and so I decided to keep him on the bench. I did not want to risk him since it may harm him further. I need him 100% for the rest of the league"

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