I do not regret the team formation-Zico

The Brazilian lamented his team’s inability to finish off their opportunities…

FC Goa head coach Zico was upset after a goalless draw against Mumbai City FC at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Goa. The Brazilian coach kept his word and fielded 8 Indian players in the starting XI, one less than the last match. Though FC Goa started with more domestic players, the second half saw three changes, bringing in Jofre and Trindade Goncalves first and later Julio Cesar in place of the injured Sanjay Balmuchu. “As a coach, I had to change my team and I had a lot of other alternatives to do it, as you know Joffre could not play 90 minutes. So I decided to play him in the last 30 minutes as you can see we had many opportunities, but unfortunately the goals did not come because of our mistakes and lots of wrong passes. This left us open to counter-attacks,” explained the Brazilian coach Zico. His decision to put more domestic players despite having foreigners at his disposal was risky, but he defended his choice and said, " I do not regret the team formation. Of course, we took a lot of risk against a team like Mumbai with (Sony) Norde, (Sunil) Chettri, and (Diego) Forlan. We too had a lot of chances with Robin (Singh) and Julio Cesar, we could have won the game. I want to thank my players and all the fans that came to support us.” The Guars had scored the highest 34 goals in the last edition of the league but this season has seen them lacking in the same. “The teams realize the competition, so they don't open too much. They play a little more at the back and wait for the counter-attack. I think our team just needed to adjust our aim, we had so many opportunities not only in this game but in so many games,” said the 63-year-old. Zico did not forget to applaud the goalkeepers of both teams as both the custodians did a fantastic job to keep a clean sheet. “We have to give credit to the goalkeepers of both teams. They played very well. They defended a lot of balls, so congratulations to both of them,” he concluded. Photo © ISL Media