2014 FC Goa season explained

Season:2014
Mgrtitle:Head Coach
Chairman:Dattaraj Salgaocar[1]
Chrtitle:President
League Topscorer:Miroslav Slepička (5)
Season Topscorer:Miroslav Slepička (5)
Highest Attendance:19,752 vs. Kerala Blasters
(26 November 2014)
Lowest Attendance:16,652 vs. Chennaiyin FC
(15 October 2014)
Average Attendance:18,066
Nextseason:2015

The 2014 Season was FC Goa's first season in existence. The club competed in the inaugural edition of the Indian Super League finishing the regular season in second place and reaching the semi-finals of the play-offs.

Background

In early 2014, it was announced that the All India Football Federation, the national federation for football in India, and IMG-Reliance would be accepting bids for ownership of eight of nine selected cities for the upcoming Indian Super League, an eight-team franchise league modeled along the lines of the Indian Premier League and Major League Soccer in the United States.[2] On 13 April 2014, it was announced that Venugopal Dhoot had won the bidding for the Goa franchise along with Dattaraj Salgaocar and Shrinivas Dempo. On 23 September 2014 Virat Kohli Indian Cricketer was unveiled as one of the co-owners.[3] The brand ambassador of the club is Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan.FC Goa is the first Indian sports club to launch a satellite TV Channel – FC Goa TV on Videocon D2H. On 20 September 2014 FC Goa officially confirmed Arsenal legend Robert Pires as their marquee player.

Season summary

FC Goa lost four out of their first six matches but came back strongly in the second half of the tournament with five victories from their last eight encounters keeping five clean sheets in their 14 matches. Overall, Zico has done a remarkable job with six wins, four defeats and three draws, which took them to the second spot of the standings with 22 points.

Match 1 lost to Chennayin FC 2–1 at home Balwant Singh (32') and Elano Blumer (42') gave the southerners a two-goal cushion in the first half, while Gregory Arnolin (65') managed to pull one back for the Goan franchise.

Match 2 drew to NorthEast United FC away Gregory Arnolin scored his second goal in as many matches to put FC Goa in an advantageous position only for the referee to award a controversial penalty which saw Koke convert from the spot to equalize in the first half for NorthEast United.

Match 3 lost to A de Kolkata 2–1 at home Andre Santos had put FC Goa ahead in the first half before Cavin Lobo struck twice in the second session for the Kolkata outfit.

Match 4 lost to Pune City FC 2–0 away A goal each from Kostas Katsouranis and David Trezeguet aided FC Pune City in their 2–0 victory over FC Goa.

Match 5 defeated Delhi Dynamos 2–1 away Tolgay Ozbey and Jewel Raja came to FC Goa’s rescue as they scored twice in the second half to help their side down Delhi Dynamos 2–1 after trailing by a Mads Junker goal for most of the game.

Match 6 lost to Kerala Blasters 1–0 away Milagres Gonsalves and Andrew Barisic combined brilliantly to give Kerala a win in their maiden home game with the former scoring the all-important goal in the 63rd minute.

Match 7 drew goalless to Mumbai at home Both sides created chances but failed to get off the mark as Mumbai moved up the table to fourth with the point.

Match 8 defeated Delhi Dynamos 4–1 away A brace by Youness Bengelloun, a Robert Pires spot-kick and a top strike by Tolgay Ozbey were enough to seal their first three points on the road. Gustavo Marmentini did pull one back for the home side after a penalty was awarded in the 73rd minute.

Match 9 drew goalless to Mumbai away Yet another goalless draw between the teams, this time in Mumbai. May be we might get a result between the two in the second edition of the tournament.

Match 10 defeated Pune City FC 2–0 home. FC Goa took the lead early in the fifth minute through Romeo Fernandes and sealed the victory in injury time courtesy substitute Miroslav Slepicka.

Match 11 beat Kerala Blasters 3–0 at home Zico’s side avenged their away defeat as they trounced their opponents with a brace by Miroslav Slepicka while Andre Santos added the icing on the cake. All goals came in the second period.

Match 12 beat NorthEast United 3–0 at home Romeo Fernandes and Miroslav Slepicka put ahead FC Goa ahead in the first half while Andre Santos sealed three points after change of ends.

Match 13 defeated Channaiyin FC 3–1 away The hosts were handed their first defeat of the campaign of home soil by in-form FC Goa who scored again through ‘The Three Musketeers’ Romeo Fernandes, Andre Santos and Miroslav Slepicka. Jean-Eudes Maurice did pull one back for Chennaiyin Fc in stoppage time.

Match 14 drew 1–1 to A de Kolkata away The Kolkata giants could have been knocked out of the tournament if Edgar Marcelino’s wonder strike in the 27th minute would have remained. But, Atletico de Kolkata relied on little help from match referee B Toledo as Fikru equalized through the controversial penalty at the cost of Bruno Pinheiro’s sending off.

Signings

Foreign signings

Position:PlayerLast clubDateSource
7MF Robert PiresRetirement2 September 2014[4]
18DF Zohib Islam Amiriloan from Dempo26 September 2014
25FW Ranti Martinsloan from East Bengal
26FW Tolgay Özbeyloan from Dempo26 September 2014
27DF André Santos Flamengo29 September 2014[5]

Drafted domestic players

See main article: 2014 ISL Inaugural Domestic Draft.

RoundPositionPlayerI-League club
1GK Laxmikant KattimaniDempo
2DF Debabrata RoyDempo
3MF Gabriel FernandesDempo
4MF Clifford MirandaDempo
5MF Jewel RajaDempo
6MF Alwyn GeorgeDempo
7DF Narayan DasDempo
8MF Mandar Rao DesaiDempo
9MF Romeo FernandesDempo
10MF Peter CarvalhoDempo
11FW Holicharan NarzaryDempo
12MF Pronay HalderDempo
13DF Prabir DasDempo
14DF Rowilson RodriguesDempo

Drafted foreign players

See main article: 2014 ISL Inaugural International Draft.

RoundPositionPlayerLast Club
1FW Miroslav Slepička 1. FK Příbram
2GK Jan Šeda Mladá Boleslav
3DF Bruno Pinheiro Niki Volos
4DF Youness Bengelloun Mulhouse
5FW Miguel Herlein Vilaverdense
6DF Grégory Arnolin Paços de Ferreira
7MF Edgar Marcelino Al-Seeb

Players and staff

Squad

[6]

Coaching staff

PositionName
Head coach Zico
Assistant coach Arthur Papas
Conditioning coach Hussein Skenderovic
Head of Youth Development Mariano Dias
Physiotherapist R Venkatesh
Assistant Physiotherapist Russell Pinto
Kit Manager Rajesh Malgi

Indian Super League

Regular season

Matches

Indian Super League finals

See main article: 2014 Indian Super League finals.

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

|-|}

Goal scorers

width=60Placewidth=60Positionwidth=60Nationwidth=60Numberwidth=150Namewidth=150Indian Super Leaguewidth=200Indian Super League finalswidth=80Total
1 FW20Miroslav Slepička505
2 DF27André Santos404
3 MF19Romeo Fernandes303
4 DF15Grégory Arnolin202
FW26Tolgay Özbey202
DF5 Youness Bengelloun202
7 MF23Jewel Raja101
MF7 Robert Pires101
MF10Edgar Marcelino101
TOTALS21021

Disciplinary record

NumberNationPositionNameIndian Super LeagueIndian Super League finalsTotal
width=60 style="background: #FFEE99"width=60 style="background: #FF8888"width=60 style="background: #FFEE99"width=60 style="background: #FF8888"width=60 style="background: #FFEE99"width=60 style="background: #FF8888"
2 DFDebabrata Roy200020
3 DFNarayan Das300030
5 DFYouness Bengelloun100010
12MFBikramjit Singh400040
14MFGabriel Fernandes100010
15DFGrégory Arnolin200020
16DFBruno Pinheiro010001
17MFMandar Rao Desai201030
18DFZohib Islam Amiri300030
20FWMiroslav Slepička101020
24MFClifford Miranda200020
25FWRanti Martins100010
27DFAndré Santos300030
TOTALS25120271

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: Club objects to name of FC Goa in ISL | Goa News - Times of India. The Times of India. 11 September 2014 .
  2. News: Indian Super League sees interest from 30 franchise bidders. Business Standard. 24 March 2014. 22 April 2014.
  3. Web site: FC Goa announces Virat Kohli as its new co-owner cum ambassador. 23 September 2014.
  4. News: Mumbai, Goa to settle for Arsenal legends. The Times of India. 2 September 2014 . 2 September 2014.
  5. News: Indian Super League Side FC Goa Snap Up Second Former Arsenal Player In Andre Santos. Inside Futbol.
  6. Web site: Squad. Indian Super League. 15 October 2014.