FC Goa head coach Zico hopes despite a bad start to their 2016 Hero Indian Super League campaign the Gaurs will be able to seal themselves a place in the semi-finals. The Goans registered their first win in five matches last week against Mumbai City FC, and now play Kerala Blasters FC at Fatorda's Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Monday. Zico is totally focussed on getting maximum points for his team.“We need to do our best in the next game to get the points that we need. We can see this year that this league has been very balanced and very different, and to be in the top four you need fewer points this year because of all the draws. So our main goal now is to be in the top four and our focus right now is on the game against Kerala,” Zico told reporters on Sunday.Talking about their 1-0 win against Mumbai City FC fuelled by Richarlyson's goal, the legendary Brazilian said: “I think if you are playing bad football, things won't improve. But, if you see, even in our losses we played good football and created many chances and of course this win is very important because it gives us more confidence and we can carry on with the good work.“You can see in these five games no team really dominated us and I just hope we can have much more luck in the next game. I just want to keep giving confidence to my team and I think we just need to improve our aim as you can see we are there in front of the goal and we are creating many opportunities and we just need to focus and improve our aim to score more goals.”It's Zico's third straight year in charge of the Gaurs and under him they have played fluent and attacking football. Kerala Blasters, on the other hand, have a reputation as a defensive team, and even under Steve Coppell that hasn't changed much. Commenting on their opponents for Monday's game, the 63-year-old said: “I don't know if it will be a very open game because I am a little bit against their philosophy as they play a very defensive game with very strong marking and as both teams want the three points we may see something different and it will be a very tough game.”Zico was also effusive in praise of goalkeeper Subhasish Roy Chowdhury, who has replaced Laxmikanth Kattimani as Goa's first-choice custodian. “I know Roy as a goal-keeper from when he was playing for ATK and it is good to see him performing well after everything we have gone through and even Kattimani, I have trust in him. It was a bad phase so I decided to make the change and I have full faith in both my goal-keepers.”Goa's turnaround in fortunes coincided with the return of defender Gregory Arnolin from injury and the team has been unbeaten since his comeback. Commenting on his team's defence, Zico said: “I am very happy with my defence and my team and if they are playing well then there is no need for changes and I always say I don't have eleven players playing but I have 24 players and everyone has to be prepared to play. It is a tough league and I also need to keep my players' health in mind while scheduling training as you can see a lot of injuries can happen, like it has happened with Mumbai, and I say to all my players that they have to be ready to play whenever required and I always play players who are 100% fit.”
