Clifford Miranda Praises Team Attitude Despite Loss

GOA:
FC Goa suffered yet another loss on Saturday, when Mumbai City beat them 2-0. The Gaurs’ ineffectiveness in the final third, along with the mistakes in defence cost them the three points, as they remain rooted to ninth place.

The Men in Orange fielded a lineup with big changes, as Head Coach Derrick Pereira alongside big names such as Brandon Fernandes, Anwar Ali, Edu Bedia and Glan Martins among others were rendered unavailable for the clash. Assistant coach Clifford Miranda, however, maintains that the team’s performance did not warrant a lamenting of their absence.

“We have a squad and that’s why we have a squad. When someone is not there, there is someone who steps up. And I think whoever came in today, it was a fantastic performance by the team, both individually as well as collectively,” he explained.

“We created more chances, we defended well, we were good in positional play in attack, we were first to second balls, but this is just the story of our season.

“We got punished for mistakes that we make.”

The story of the game could have been entirely different, had Airam Cabrera netted his penalty in the 18th minute. Miranda said that he, however, will not blame the Spaniard for missing the target.

“It’s always nice to take the lead whether it’s a penalty or from open play. I never blame the players. We tried and the goalkeeper made a save. If we take an early lead, it helps the team but then the penalty can go either way. I felt we created enough chances apart from the penalty to take the lead and win this game,” the tactician reasoned.

FC Goa worked hard till the final minute
Prior to the clash, the former Indian international had said that the Gaurs are in a tough situation at the moment as they had nothing to play for. After the final whistle, he added that he was happy with the team’s performance considering the circumstances.

“For the outside world, we had nothing to play for but if you see the players the way they played, the way we performed from the first minute to the last, we worked hard for each other and the team.

“And you can see the feeling when we lost, we were disappointed because after a wonderful and spirited performance with and without the ball, we went away with nothing,” Clifford Miranda signed off.

FC Goa will play their final match of this ISL season on March 6, against playoff hopefuls Kerala Blasters.