Three reasons why FC Goa failed to impress in AFC Champions League Two

FC Goa remained at the bottom of their group.

FC Goa’s AFC Champions League Two 2025–26 campaign ended in familiar heartbreak as the Gaurs suffered a 2-1 home defeat against Tajikistan champions Istiklol FC. Coming into the game after five consecutive losses, Goa had little left to play for, while Istiklol themselves needed improbable results to move up the table.

As a result, the fixture felt like a formality, yet the outcome summed up Goa’s Asian journey. Despite showing attacking intent and scoring goals across the group stage, the Gaurs failed to convert promise into results, finishing bottom of Group D without a single point.

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Even though there was a lot of excitement over FC Goa’s participation in the AFC Champions League Two after the thrilling manner in which they qualified for it, they’ve failed to really step up to the standards of the continental tournament.

Even though the matches have been a strong test for the Indian players to measure their ability against some of Asia’s best, the Gaurs’ continental outing has been reasonably disappointing.

The Gaurs haven’t even been able to scratch out a single point out of five matches, and it’ll be a tough task for them to do so against Istiklol in the final game. Manolo Marquez hasn’t really been able to help elevate his side’s performance levels, resulting in such frustrating results.

Here we take a look at the three reasons why FC Goa failed to impress in the AFC Champions League Two campaign.

3. Lack of balance within the squad

FC Goa might not be the best football club in India, but they had a strong squad before entering the AFC Champions League Two tournament. A reason for that was the presence of Indian internationals like Sandesh Jhingan, Boris Singh, Ayush Chhetri, and Brison Fernandes.

However, the problem that Manolo Marquez really faced with his squad was that there were major balance issues within the squad. Even though they had a reasonably strong defensive shape and a few hard-working midfielders, the Gaurs are lacking in quality in some other vital areas of the pitch.

For one thing, they lacked truly creative and skillful midfielders who could consistently create chances, and their wingers weren’t very clinical either.

Despite being a strong defensive team, the Gaurs failed to counter-attack or create problems in the opposition area. This caused them to come up short even in matches they defended strongly, resulting in zero points from five games.

2. Quality of foreign contingent

It’s an open secret that for any Indian side to perform strongly in an AFC competition, they’d need to be backed by impactful foreign players to have a chance of getting positive results. The foreign players at FC Goa for their 2025-26 AFC Champions League Two group stages, however, failed to prove themselves as real difference-makers.

Pol Moreno was not able to help his side keep a single clean sheet. David Timor struggled to add defensive protection to his side and was even sent off in the 2-1 loss to Al-Nassr at home.

Borja Herrera and Iker Guarrotxena struggled with consistency, creating occasional chances but failing to improve their team’s quality. Dejan Drazic managed just one assist from five games, struggling to be impactful in the final third or finish off chances clinically.

Javier Siverio was basically bullied in the majority of the matches he played in. FC Goa foreigners struggled under the intensity and high energy of the AFC Champions League Two, and this had a bad impact on the Indian players as well, resulting in frustrating performances.

1. No inspired goal-scorer up-front

FC Goa might have produced some decent defensive efforts in their AFC Champions League Two campaign, but they couldn’t expect any results based on clean sheets. The Gaurs’ defenders did their job pretty well for multiple games, but only to be let down by those on the other half of the pitch.

The reality for FC Goa in their Asian campaign was that they just lacked that special spark in a leader in their attacking line. The Gaurs didn’t have anybody who could drive them forward by carrying the ball into the danger zones and then set up something special.

More importantly, the Indian side also lacked a clinical goal-scorer amongst their ranks. Neither Siverio nor Drazic have been able to raise their performance levels against tougher opponents.

FC Goa lacked a goal-scorer who could finish off dangerous chances and help them convert their chances with ease, which is why they fell short in their AFC Champions League Two campaign.

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