ISL 2025-26: Oscar Bruzon looked focused ahead of FC Goa clash

The Torchbearers host FC Goa at home in their fourth home match of ISL 2025-26.

East Bengal FC continue their 2025–26 Indian Super League campaign at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (VYBK), in Kolkata, hosting FC Goa on 5th March, 2026. The match is scheduled to kick off at 5:00 PM IST.

This fixture offers the Red and Gold Brigade an opportunity to get back to their winning days and gain back their momentum. After a 2-1 defeat against Jamshedpur FC, Oscar Bruzon and his men will be eager to grab all three points at home from this match as well as take revenge for the AIFF Super Cup 2025 final match. While the Gaurs would like to continue their winning run in this year’s ISL and their dominance over East Bengal.

Oscar Bruzon and Mohammed Rashid addressed the media and shared their viewpoints before the high-voltage clash against FC Goa at the Salt Lake Stadium.

Oscar Bruzon calls 5pm Ramadan fixtures unacceptable

Oscar Bruzon shared his thoughts on how difficult it has been for his players to remain dehydrated and play the ISL matches at 5 PM, and adjust to the humid conditions.

He stated: ” Good Morning and Happy Holi to everyone. Now it is the auspicious month of Ramzan. We have five Muslim players in our team who are doing Roza and still trying to give their 100% on the field. It is really difficult you know to remain dehydrated for 12 long hours in these hot and humid weather conditions of India. These kind of sacrifices are really praiseworthy. But during this month of Ramzan it is absolutely not acceptable when the Federation is scheduling all our home games at 5 PM in the evening. There is no point of organizing the matches at this time of the day. We have also discussed about this with the officials of AIFF because the health of the players should be prioritized. Tomorrow’s match can’t be rescheduled to 7:30 PM as there is a World Cup match of cricket, so it’s very tough for our players.

“Also our first match against the NorthEast was scheduled during the prime time at 7:30 PM in the evening. But suddenly it is very weird during this month of Ramadan, all our matches has been scheduled at 5 PM in the evening. And once this Ramadan is getting over and after the FIFA International break all our matches are again shifted in the prime time at 7:30 PM.

“We have been clearly deprived of all the three points during the last match against Jamshedpur. Generally I don’t like to talk about the controversial decisions of the referee but we became the victim of some wrong decisions give by the referee during our last match. The first goal of Jamshedpur was clearly an offside, and if it was given as an offside goal, there was less possibility of losing the match.

“Yes we haven’t being lucky enough. We’ve lost important players like Rakip, Crespo, Mahesh and Kevin in the midway of the league due to sudden injuries which has affected our strategies. These kind of injuries is very unfortunate for any team in the crucial stages of the ISL.” he also added.

Oscar plans to stop Dejan Dražić

Oscar Explained: “Yes, you’re asking me about Dejan Dražić, who used to play for Celta Vigo. I know a lot of things about this player, because I have pursued my playing career at Celta Vigo, spent a lot of time there, and started my coaching career as well. So we know the player very well and have proper plans for him. But sometimes when you know a player very well, he can create more threat to your team. He is a very talented player, so keeping that in mind, we’ll try our best to neutralise his threat tomorrow and stop him from scoring goals here in Kolkata.

“I have no problem if we take those defensive risks”: Oscar Bruzon

Oscar Bruzon shared his viewpoints about his defensive force, unavailability of important players at crucial stages and their planning for the FC Goa match.

He explained: “I have already talked about Dražić, so players with special abilities will try to create a lot of problems for your backline. And the same goes for Eze, who is scoring in every match and playing for a long time in India. I will not blame any of my players as we were marking Eze, but one of the players from Jamshedpur obstructed our goalkeeper and it was clearly offside. Other than that, we have neutralised throughout the game; if you can see they were constantly sending the ball into our box through long set pieces. Jamshedpur have very good players for set pieces inside the box, with the likes of Messi, Pronay, and they have created a lot of problems for us throughout the game.

“But I will not blame my defenders, because we conceded the first goal, which was an offside. And yes, we’ve conceded three goals in two matches, but we always believe in scoring more goals. So I want to focus more on scoring the goals, as we have scored eight goals so far this season and conceded three. And I have no problem if we take those defensive risks, which shows that we are a team that likes to attack and create opportunities other than defending.

“We need to modify our plan and sit with our players, discuss with them how we can rectify our mistakes. Tomorrow we are facing a team that is very strong in the upfront, so we need to strategise well and neutralise them in the defensive line as well and we will also try to capitalise on the opportunities.

“We don’t want to focus on the adversities or the problems. We are improving day by day. And our focus is to finish on top half of the table, maybe in the top five. We don’t have any obligations to win the title at the moment, as I’ve already told you guys. We are not focusing on what Mohun Bagan is doing and how they are on top of the points table. We are only focusing on our objective, our game and how we can improve.

“East Bengal had a tough season last year, so we’ve built a strong team this year. Improving game by game, we need to believe in our potential. For me, all the players in our squad have the potential to be in the playing eleven. We play as a team, all eleven players on the ground and those on the bench are important to me. Yes, we again missed some of our players due to unforeseen injuries, which affected our game, and we couldn’t reach the peak of our performance so far. But we are growing as a unit day by day.

“Yes Rakip and Mahesh are fit to play tomorrow, and it will be a challenge for us to select the playing eleven. Kevin will take some more time, but is recovering quite well. Regarding Saul, I am not sure whether he will play tomorrow or not, but is training hard with the team and will be back very soon. Also, we missed Anton in the SC Delhi match due to some registration issues, but again, we as a team don’t want to focus on all these problems; rather, we need to believe in our game and want to improve from hereon,” he finished off.

“We are developing as a team game by game”: Mohammed Rashid opens up about the preparations for the FC Goa match

Mohammed Rashid shared his viewpoints on the loss against Jamshedpur FC, preparations for the FC Goa match, the absence of Saul Crespo in the midfield and his mindset on doing Roza during Ramadan.

He explained: “Yes it was unfortunate to lose against Jamshedpur FC. But now we need to focus on our next game against FC Goa. We are developing as a team game by game. So we need to forget what has happened in the last match and be ready for our next challenge against Goa.

“It is not about playing defensively or attacking football; we play according to the plan of our coach. Yes sometime it happens, we conceded a goal from a set-piece in the last match, and the second goal came from an amazing ball, so it was an unfortunate defeat in the last match. It was a 50-50 game, but we also didn’t capitalise on the opportunities. We need to rectify all our mistakes and start afresh in the next match.

“Yes Saul is an important player for our team. But we can’t avoid the injury which is also not in our hand. He has very good defensive capabilities as well as very good in the midfield. I hope he can play for atleast sometime during the match against FC Goa.

“As a player, my mindset about doing Roza is all about self-belief. This is a thing that I have been doing since I was eight years old, and I will not stop doing this. Obviously, Roza is a kind of thing you need to perform with a lot of trust and believe in your mind. This is difficult for all the other players who are doing Roza. For this, we need to be strong both mentally and physically, and we are trying our best. We need to deliver our best for the team and the club, as we are professional players playing for a professional football club. Whether we eat or not, it doesn’t matter, we need to give our best on the field,;” he added.

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