Confidence is coursing through the FC Goa camp after their breakout win against Delhi Dynamos FC in their previous game. After spending the first seven games of the season struggling to score despite some dazzling attacking play, their strike force finally came good to record a 1-4 victory in what was expected to be a tough away game.Head coach Zico’s side goes into another difficult away fixture, against Mumbai City FC in Navi Mumbai, buoyed after that result in Delhi. “They can be sure that we are playing to win, and we will attack,” the Brazilian legend said at the pre-match press conference. He went onto add that Mumbai City should expect a tough game despite having the home advantage, “We are looking forward to neutralising the best players of the Mumbai team. I think it is an equal game.”Zico pointed to his side’s improved finishing as the biggest difference between the win over Delhi and the games that preceded it. “In the last game, we were able to finish better. In the earlier games we created many opportunities to score, but were unable to do so,” he said.When asked to explain the poor start to their Hero Indian Super League (ISL) campaign, Zico offered an interesting answer. He stated that the immense desire to win actually led to the players putting too much pressure on themselves. “Maybe, because our players were being reckless and they were trying to do things by themselves because of the pressure to win,” Zico suggested.The former Brazilian international asserted that he was never worried about his team’s fortunes, despite the slow start to the season, because he could see his players had immediately bought into his playing philosophy. “We create opportunities. We play football. If we were not doing it, I would have been worried,” stated Zico. “But Goa has been playing good football.”Zico said Mumbai City’s attention to defensive duties (they have kept four clean sheets coming into the match) could become the preferred tactic for teams in the top half of the table. “It has become a little complicated. The teams that are there in the top four are playing a defensive game. They are not taking many risks,” he explained. He added that Goa’s position in the table necessitates that they have to continue to attack. “We have to take risks. But we are not going to change our philosophy. We will continue to play the way we have been playing,” he asserted.Zico clarified however that it was not a case of beautiful football over winning, but rather, winning through beautiful football. “My philosophy has always been to win the game,” Zico promised. “If I have to change my philosophy, I will stop. I want my players to go for victory. But don’t play bad football!”Goa centre back Youness Bengelloun sat alongside his head coach at the media interaction, and he was also confident that his forwards could put in another strong display. Asked what made the difference in the 1-4 win over Delhi after a goal-shy start to the tournament, Bengelloun echoed Zico in saying it was just a matter of applying the finishing touch. “Everybody knows that we always played well. For the last game, we were very efficient and that is why we scored four goals,” he stated.The French defender was also questioned about Goa’s chances of finishing in the top four and qualifying for the semi-finals, given their slow start to the season. While acknowledging that they face an uphill task, Bengelloun guaranteed his team would fight to the end in their push to make it to the semis: “We have six more games, 18 points to take, and we are going to do everything to reach in the top four.”
