ISL 2025-26: Clifford Miranda calls for improvement following FC Goa draw

FC Goa came back from behind to salvage a point against the Marina Machans.

Chennaiyin FC hosted FC Goa in an early kick-off at the Marina Arena for their first home game of the 2025/26 Indian Super League (ISL) season on Sunday, March 22, 2026. Fans arrived at the stadium two hours before kickoff to offer the players a warm welcome back home.

However, Chennaiyin FC couldn’t reward their fans with all three points, as they were held to a draw despite taking an early second-half lead. Chennaiyin dominated the first half, as they were the superior side for 45 minutes, with FC Goa posing no challenge in attack.

Coming into the second half, the hosts gained an early lead courtesy to a gift from Sahil Tavora, whose wayward ball to keeper Hrithik Tiwari was intercepted and converted by Irfan Yadwad, who scored his first goal of the season. However, after gaining the lead, Chennaiyin has struggled to maintain possession of the ball, allowing the Gaurs to dominate.

Manolo Marquez’s team kept pressing and ultimately equalized late in the second half thanks to Sandesh Jhingan’s bullet header from a Drazic set-piece. Daniel Lalhlimpuia had a good opportunity to secure all three points in second-half stoppage time, but he missed from close range.

Following the game, head coach Clifford Miranda addressed the media about injury concerns, set-piece limitations, Maheson’s progress, and other questions.

Clifford Miranda on adopting different style of play following Chima’s injury:

Chennaiyin FC got off to a strong start with a handful of threatening moves in the first half. However, their attacking momentum was hampered when Daniel Chima Chukwu was stretchered off in the 20th minute due to an injury. Miranda discussed how the squad had to adapt to a different style of play after the striker’s injury.

“We were playing in one dimension and then with Chima going out, we had to adapt (to a different dimension). But we adapted really well, I would say. But otherwise, it was not much because Irfan gave us the same as what Chima would have. In terms of the slots of substitutions, it did affect us”, added Clifford Miranda.

Clifford Miranda on playing Irfan Yadwad as striker despite having Inigo Martin:

When Chima got hurt in the 20th minute, the coach could have easily replaced him with another foreign attacker, Inigo Martin. Clifford Miranda, on the other hand, made a risky move by appointing Irfan Yadwad to command the line. His bet paid off, as Irfan scored for Marina Machans. The Chennaiyin head coach explained the choice to bring on Irfan and why Inigo Martin did not play any minutes.

“Two reasons (for bring Irfan on ahead of Inigo). Irfan’s got speed, he’s good in the air, he’s strong, good strides, he can run in free space, and he’s got a lot of power, in terms of making those runs.”

“With Inigo, he had a slight problem with stomach infection, and he was coming back from it, so I didn’t want to risk him because it was too early in the game. Our plan was to get Inigo late on in the game if at all we needed. But at that early in the game, I think it was not a good idea to get Inigo on”, said Clifford Miranda.

Clifford Miranda calls for improvement from set-pieces:

This season, Chennayin FC has struggled with set pieces, both attacking and defensive. They also conceded from a corner against FC Goa today, and they were unable to capitalize on their offensive set-pieces. Clifford Miranda was asked if they needed to focus more on set-pieces to improve their end product.

“We are working on our set-pieces. I have Anthony (Fernandes) looking after attacking set-pieces and Rajat (Guha) looking after defensive. But having not scored from attacking (set-pieces) and having conceded from defensive (set-pieces), we will have to look into it. Sometimes it could be the individual error when someone is assigned to man-mark a player.”

“Sometimes it’s the delivery, no matter how much you organize your attacking structure, the most important thing is the delivery. If the delivery is not proper, then it becomes a problem. We should also control the transitions from the set-pieces. The goal that we conceded was like from our attacking corner, they broke, went to our corner”, stated Clifford Miranda.

Clifford Miranda on young Maheson Singh:

Maheson Singh, who joined Chennaiyin FC in January 2025, played only one minute under Owen Coyle previous season. However, this season, he has received a significant amount of game time under Clifford Miranda, who appears to have great faith in the young attacking midfielder. When asked about the midfielder’s performances this season, the head coach gave him great praise.

“He is a good boy, a good kid. He’s working hard, he’s giving his everything that he has. He was playing in the I-League two years back and last year he was at Chennaiyin but he wasn’t getting enough minutes because the style that was being played was not suited to him. I think this is the style of play that is most suited to him and that is why he is thriving.”

“He is very good in between the lines. he receives the ball in a good body orientation. He links up play; he works hard without the ball. Yes, he needs to work on his physical condition but as he keeps playing, he will get better“, applauded Clifford Miranda.

Clifford Miranda on game management:

Till the moment Chennaiyin took the lead, they looked the superior side and were very comfortable on the ball, keeping major share of the possession. However, ever since they took their lead, they failed to keep hold of the ball and allowed Goa to grow in the game, allowing them more time on the ball. This approach backfired in the end as they ended up conceding and had to settle for a point.

“I think we defended well. Football is a game in phases. Sometimes you have more of the ball, sometimes you have less of the ball. Sometimes you have to defend in mid-block, sometimes you have to defend in low block.  We defended very well in the mid-block, especially in the second half of the last 20-25 minutes.”

“The problem for us there was that we could not keep the ball. We were in the mid-block and we were very fine. We knew we had the ball where we wanted to have the ball. But after recovering the ball, we did not keep the ball well and that was what hurt us.  I would also say we should have scored in the first half, we should have taken our chances in the first half, and we had a couple of clear chances. Had we taken them, the game would have been different in the second half”, insisted Clifford Miranda.

Clifford Miranda provides update on injuries to Chima and Elsinho:

“I don’t know, I have to ask the medical department. I think Chima has pulled up his hamstring or something like that. And Elsinho, I think it’s something to do with the muscle injury”, stated Clifford Miranda.

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