ISL 2022-23: Happy with the win because the past two weeks haven’t been easy – FC Goa’s Carlos Pena

FC Goa head coach Carlos Pena was happy with win after his team defeated Odisha FC by 3-0 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Goa on Saturday. The Gaurs had lost their previous two matches against Bengaluru FC and Mumbai City FC and thus it was a much-needed win for the club.

Pena admitted that the last two weeks haven’t been easy for his team after these two losses. However, he was glad that his team could return to winning ways.

Brison Deuben Fernandes opened the scoring for FC Goa against Odisha FC in the 74th minute. Noah Sadaoui then scored after five minutes to double the team’s lead. Subsequently, Alvaro Vazquez scored in the 90th minute to put the game to bed.

Sharing his thoughts on the team’s win, Carlos Pena said in the post-match press conference, “We are very happy with the victory we got tonight. The players have been impressive in this game because the results show that the players were really feeling some pressure in the legs. We were facing a really good team that came here in a good mood and they showed that in the first half. We knew that we were going to have chances, we had several of those in the second half and the substitutes helped us out. So yes, I’m very happy for the win because these past two weeks haven’t been easy for us.”

All the three goals were scored in the second half by the home team. Pena revealed he told his players to be patient and asked them to keep doing the same things they were doing.

Pena said, “We talked about the different situations we could leave in this game. Sometimes we were not comfortable with the ball and tried to defend in our own half. This is what we talked about before the game and it happened in the match. At halftime, I told the players that it’s 0-0, to keep on doing the same things and the chances will come and it happened. The players showed that they have the capacity to suffer when things are not going their way. In the second half, we were amazing. We had to fight in the first half but the victory came with three points of great volume.”

FC Goa will take on NorthEast United FC in their next match. The Highlanders haven’t even recorded a solitary win out of the nine matches they have played. However, Pena feels it is important for them to respect the opposition.

He said, “We need to balance, today’s match is a big victory. Two weeks to learn from the mistakes that happened in the past. We have to respect NorthEast United FC and we want to get three points to get close to the top of the points table.”