FC Goa coach Zico says it feels great to qualify for the semi-finals after being an underdog team
FC Goa head coach Zico spoke to reporters following his side's thumping 1-3 away win against league leaders Chennaiyin FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, and insisted that his side now has to be more careful having qualified to the semi-finals of the Hero Indian Super League.
Q. How does it feel after sealing a spot in the semi-finals?
A. Zico- It’s a feeling of mission accomplished and all our hard work has paid off. I am really thankful to the players because they trusted in their work. After the first phase, very few people expected us to reach the semi-finals. But we believed that we will get out of this situation and the players never stopped working seriously. They continued to work hard and relentlessly and the proof of it is that we have reached this position.
Q. You squad has many young players like Narayan Das and Mandar. Do you think that that they have significantly over the period of time?
A. Zico- I always try to give them a bit of my experience as a football player as a coach and they have listened to me and believed in what I am teaching them and we all are seeing the improvement in them. I always tell them to believe in themselves and do their best and the results are that they are doing well. My role as a coach is to teach them and they are following it.
Q. There was a big section in the crowd which wanted Robert Pires to come on field. Did he listen to them and did he think about joining the game?
A. Zico- I have to prepare my team to play football. If there was an opportunity I would have put him in the game.
Q. How does it feel after getting the emerging player award? Has Zico improved you in every game?
A. Narayan- First of all I would like to thank the coach and all the players because of whom we are in the semi-finals. We played as a team and we all are very happy. We were confident that we will reach the semi-finals.
Q. What is going to be the mentality of the team in the semi-finals?
A. Narayan- No we have to prepare for the semi-finals and practice even harder. We have to improve on all the things that the coach will tell us. Next we have is the knockout and for that we have to be more serious practice better.
Q. Most of the players are from Dempo Sports Club. Did you have to make any changes in the game plan? If yes, what changes did you make?
A. Zico- It is always good to have some players who know each other. We have many different players in the team and they have learned to play with each other. Now this is not Dempo team, but FC Goa team. Most of the players were chosen from the Dempo team, but in my opinion Goa has other strong teams as well. It would have been better if strong players were chosen from other teams as well and make one strong Goan team. But the players that we have now in the FC Goa team are best and very well representing Goa.
Q. Which part of the game you need to improve before the semis?
A. Zico- I don’t think we can make that decision at this stage. We have to keep our focus on the game. In the semi-finals, we cannot make any mistakes since it's just two games and goal difference can change everything. So we have to be very careful.