ISL 2020-21 highlights, FCG vs HFC: Goa through to semifinals, Hyderabad knocked out

ISL Live, HFC vs FCG: FCGoa qualified for the playoffs after a goalless draw with Hyderabad FC at the Fatorda Stadium.

Updated : Feb 28, 2021 19:50 IST

FC Goa players celebrate their qualification to the ISL playoffs.
FC Goa players celebrate their qualification to the ISL playoffs.
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FC Goa players celebrate their qualification to the ISL playoffs.

This is Sportstar's ISL 2020-21 blog of the FC Goa and Hyderabad FC match that took place at the Fatorda Stadium on Sunday.

One big game done. Another BIG GAME coming your way. Mumbai City FC vs ATK Mohun Bagan for the ISL League winner's shield and the AFC Champions League spot to play for. Follow the game live here. -- Mumbai City FC vs ATK Mohun Bagan

 

The Goan camp forms a huddle before coach Ferrando is given a celebratory cheer by being thrown high into the air. It has been a strange season for Goa, who started with a refreshed squad and a new coach. It was dealt with many injuries and suspension but it kept having its hat in the playoff race with its never-say-never approach. It is now unbeaten in 13 games - a new ISL record.

Hyderabad nearly scripted a superb turnaround story with its enterprising football and a crop of young Indian footballers under Manolo Marquez. But it couldn't get over the last hurdle despite remaining unbeaten in 12 matches. Hyderabd was comfortably the neutral's pick and can take plenty of pride for a club which finished rock bottom last season.

FULL-TIME. And breathe.. Goa is into the semifinals. Hyderabad is knocked out. Celebratiosn among the Goa players and their camp. After a dogged 80-odd minutes, Hyderabad's plan nearly came off in the end when it pushed for the all-important goal. But Dheeraj and Gonzalez made crucial interceptions to deny Hyderabad the win.

90'+8' Dheeraj punches away the freekick but Dhanu can't get the follow up delivery into the box.

90'+7' Gonzalez is booked for a foul.

90'+6' GOA SUB: Angulo OFF, Ali ON. Angulo trudging off slowly. Dheeraj with a supebr tip over the ball as Adil Khan's header looked to be looping into the net.

90'+3' CLEARANCE ON THE LINE! Alberg through on goal and Dheeraj pushes away his shot into the face of goal but Gonzalez makes a superb clearance to take it off the feet of Liston, who came running into the sweep the ball into the net. Gonzalez is pumped!

90'+1' Kattimani comes wat off the line and Ortiz goes for goal from 50 yards out. The shot, however, is not on target.

SEVEN MINUTES OF ADDED TIME

90' Bedia with an inswinging corner and Donachie leaps high and meet with his header but can't keep the ball on target.

87' Devendra cuts inside and looks to bend it into the top corner but he can't keep his shot on target.

86' RED CARD! Luis Sastre from the Hyderabad bench apparently threw a water bottle towards the Goa bench. ANOTHER RED CARD! Noguera is shown a second yellow card. That ecalated quickly...

85' GOA SUB: Noguera OFF, Ortiz ON

85' CHANCE! Pressure from Hdyerabad, Victor hooks in a ball into the box and Chianese misses to get his head on to the ball as Liston misses on the slide.

83' Chianese goes down inside the box after a challenge by Adil but the referee says no penalty.

83' Noguera booked for kicking the ball away after a freekick for Hyderabad.

Can Hyderabad get a late winner to knock Goa out?

82' HFC SUB: Sastre OFF, Danu ON

80' Dheeraj punches away the free-kick not too convincingly and Adil helps him out with his header. Liston plays in a low cross into the box and Adil clears it out with his feet this time.

78' Play resumes. Goa concedes a free-kick. Saviour holds on to Liston to bring him down.

76' Water break taken.

76' Martins concedes a freekick by bringing down Narzary, looking to get away on the counter.

75' Victor covers the danger by blocking the final pass by Devendra to Angulo on the break.

74' Odei came flying to meet the corner kick but he fails to make contact.

73' Hyderabad wins a corner kick. The ball is recycled by Hyderabad from the corner to win another corner on the right side by Liston.

70' Adil Khan down with cramps. FCG SUB: Romario OFF, Devendra ON

69' HFC SUB: Souvik OFF, Sahil ON

67' Sandaza isn't happy with the decision to take him off. Redeem is cloesly marked by Poojary as he looks to cut in. He takes a shot but goes wide of goal.

66' HFC SUBS: Sandaza, Yasir OFF ; Liston, Alberg ON

64' Victor goes into the book for clattering into Noguera from behind. Such a stop-start 60-odd minutes this game has been. 28 fouls so far in the game. Bedia's free-kick crashes against the Hyderabad wall.

61' The ball came off Donachie and went behind the goal but the referee awards a goal-kick instead of a corner.

60' Referee gives handball against Adil near the right byline as the centre-back went down to the ground under the challenge of Chianese.

59' Mishra wins a corner on the left side.

56' Poojary and Redeem clatter into each other after a coming together but Redeem is booked.

54' Goa skipper Bedia booked for bringing down Chianese from behind. Donachie clears the free-kick away from the box.

Santana looks on helplessly from the stands.

50' Redeem latches onto a scuffed cross by Saviour and the winger dribbles down to the byline and plays in a cutback which catches the side-netting.

49' On the break, Noguera looks to dribble past Victor and Mishra with both players seeimgly impeding his run. The referee says no foul though.

47' Ball played into the feet of Redeem by Noguera. The winger cuts inside and plays in a ball which is nowehere close to his teammates.

46' Goa gets the second period underway.

SECOND HALF

HALF-TIME. It remains goalless at half-time. Goa hasn't been at its fluent best but another goalless half will be enough for it to seal the top four place. Hyderabad had made things difficult with its incessant pressing all over the park and looked likely to open the scoring in the first few minutes. The game has slowed down in the secnd part of the first half and Hyderabad will need a different approach if it is to get the goal and the crucial win.

Two minutes of added time

44' Superb feet from Noguera to dribble his way out of a tight spot with three Hyderabad players in front of him but it comes to nothing for Goa in the attacking third.

41' Souvik booked for leaving a foot on Noguera from the back.

39' Yasir with a dangrous run into the box but Adil, again, nicks the ball away from the feet of the winger with an outstretched foot. If he got it wrong, he would have brought down Yasir.

39' Halicharan dribbles awya from Gonzalez and hooks in a cross into the six yard area but Adil with a crucial header.

38' Sandaza gets away fro two markers at the edge of the Goa box but his pass for his teammate is cut out.

36' Freekick for Goa from the left.  Bedia swings it into the box and Odei leaps high to head it out of the area.

33' James Donachie goes into the book for having lent in high with his arm for an aerial duel.  Dheeraj punches away the free-kick arrowed into the box.

31' Water break called.

Ortiz warms up for Goa.

29' Play resumes. Saviour released down the left by Redeem and the full-back's low cross is dealt with.

26' Bedia rolling around on the floor after Souvik clatters him into the back. He is receiving medical attention.

24' Confusion between Bedia and Saviour leads to Hyderabad breaking forward in numbers but their teammate Redeem tracks back to help win possesion back and avert danger.

21' Goa looking to play over the top of Hyderabad's centre-backs in the hope of catching them out. Odei and Victor, who are both less than six feet in height, don't seem to be too comfortable dealing with those type of deliveries.

18' Saviour with a good spin away from his marker to get into a crossing position but Poojary catches up and puts him off. The ball goes behind for a goal-kick.

15' The inswinging corner is played into the six yard area and luckily for Goa, Adil was on hand to clear it away.

14' Chianese wins a corner down the left byline.

13' Sastre takes a quick corner with Goa defence caught napping but the referee calls back play. The re-taken corner is cleared out of danger.

12' Hyderabad playing with more purpose with its passing so far. Goa struggling to put together a passing move faced against the press by Hyderabad.

10' Yasir is playing through the right while Chianese will play in the No. 10 role. A Goa attack comes to nothing as the ball goes behind for a goalkick.

8' Narzary fouled down the left flank by Romario. Free-kick taken by Sastre but the referee calls for a foul against Hyderabad in the Goa box.

5' Glan Martins cleans out Chianese from behind. Referee calls for the foul but no card.

3' Yasir runs into space down the right flank and into the box to play in a dangerous cut-back but Gonzalez sticks out his foot to clear it away from the box.

2' Ivan Gonzalez is the choice at right-back. Interesting, considering Gonzalez is predominantly a left-footer.

1' Hyderabad gets the first half underway from left to right. Edu Bedia signalling to his teammates to keep things calm.

FIRST HALF

4.54 PM: Both teams make their way out to the middle. Hyderabad will line-up in its away kit. Goa in its home colours.

 

4.30 PM: FC Goa coach Juan Ferrando has had among the most challenging start to life in India. In this episode of The Full Time Show, he speaks to Aashin Prasad about his maiden season in ISL, quarantine and player management, coaching style, contentious refereeing and his takeaways from the season.

 

4.15 PM: Three changes for Hyderabad. Santana, Chingelsana, Liston - OUT. Sandaza, Souvik, Yasir - IN. Victor will slot in at the centre-back role, Yasir will play as the No. 10 and Souvik will start in the midfield two.

4.10 PM: Jorge Ortiz makes the bench for FC Goa. One change in Goa's starting XI as Adil Khan comes in place of Seriton Fernandes. Juan Ferrando has sought to go with experience for cover at right-back instead of a natural full-back in Sanson Pereira. It remains to be seen who among Adil and James Donachie starts in the position.

4 PM: The team news is in

FC Goa XI (4-2-3-1)

Dheeraj Singh; James Donachie, Adil Khan, Ivan Gonzalez, Saviour Gama; Edu Bedia, Glan Martins; Alexander Jesuraj, Alberto Noguera, Redeem Tlang; Igor Angulo

Hyderabad FC XI (4-2-3-1)

Laxmikant Kattimani; Nikhil Poojari, Joao Victor, Odei Onaindia, Akash Mishra; Souvik Chakrabarti, Luis Sastre; Halicharan Narzary, Mohammed Yasir, Joel Chianese; Fran Sandaza

3.40 PM: Here's how the two teams could line-up.

FC Goa predicted XI (4-2-3-1)

Dheeraj Singh; Seriton Fernandes, Mohammed Ali, Ivan Gonzalez, Saviour Gama; Edu Bedia, Glan Martins; Alexander Jesuraj, Alberto Noguera, Jorge Ortiz; Igor Angulo

Hyderabad FC predicted XI (4-2-3-1)

Laxmikant Kattimani; Nikhil Poojari, Joao Victor, Odei Onaindia, Akash Mishra; Hitesh Sharma, Luis Sastre; Halicharan Narzary, Mohammed Yasir, Joel Chianese; Fran Sandaza

3.30 PM: PODCAST - Will it be ATK Mohun Bagan or Mumbai City FC which takes the League Winner's Shield? Which among FC Goa and Hyderabad FC will take the final playoff place? In the latest episode of Sportstar's 'The Full Time Show', N. Sudarshan, Shyam Vaudevan & Aashin Prasad discuss how the top-four is shaping up.

 

Follow Sportstar's full coverage (Latest news, Interviews, Features, Points table, Quiz, Videos) of ISL 2020-21 .

ISL 2020: Points Table

The seventh edition of the Indian Super League got underway inside a bio-bubble in Goa on November 20.

The tournament, spanning over four months, will see 11 teams play each other in a league and playoff format across three venues. Following the inclusion of SC East Bengal, this season will feature 115 games, up from 95 last season.

MATCH PREVIEW:

FC Goa and Hyderabad FC will be involved in a straight shoot-out for the last available Indian Super League (ISL) playoff spot when they meet at the Fatorda Stadium on Sunday. Goa, on 30 points, is ahead of Hyderabad by two and needs just a draw, while nothing other than a win will do for its opponent.

Both sides come into the match without having tasted defeat in nearly two months. Goa is unbeaten in 12 games while Hyderabad hasn’t lost in 11. In fact, the last match in which Hyderabad did not pick up points was against Goa, a 2-1 reverse in late December.

READ |

Hyderabad could have made life a bit easier for itself if it had beaten ATK Mohun Bagan (ATKMB) in the last game. It led until injury time despite playing almost the whole match with a man down, but had to settle for a draw courtesy Pritam Kotal’s late equaliser.

Its task on Sunday has now been made even more difficult because of the absence of three important players. Aridane Santana, Hyderabad’s top-scorer with 10 goals, is suspended after picking up his fourth caution. Defender Asish Rai is out for the season with an injury while Chinglensana Singh will be missing from the backline too, having received his marching orders against ATKMB.

“We have shown during the course of the season that it’s not so important,” Hyderabad coach Manuel Marquez said about not having key personnel. “We played the other day without Asish. We played without Sana in the first game of the league and won.”

“We played without Aridane and with only two foreigners against ATK Mohun Bagan (in December) and drew. One of the strengths of this team is that they are very brave and confident in every game.”

Whether this attitude will suffice remains to be seen, for Goa’s fellow Spanish coach Juan Ferrando insisted that there will be no let-up in his side’s intensity despite the fact that a draw would be sufficient.

“We have the same plan. If we are winning 1-0, our mentality is to score the second. If we are winning 2-0, our mentality is to score the third goal,” said Ferrando. “We want to play in attack because we want to win. We are only thinking about winning, not in draws.”

Goa, though, needs to shore up its defence. It has shipped goals in 17 of the 19 games thus far, and Naveen Kumar and Dheeraj Singh, who have collectively taken on the burden of replacing goalie Mohammed Nawaz, still look shaky. But Ferrando remained confident and chose to place his faith on the team’s overall quality.

“We lost Brandon (Fernandes) but Romario (Jesuraj), Redeem (Tlang) or sometimes Devendra (Murgaogar) have worked very hard,” he said. “Glan (Martins) and Princeton (Rebello) for me are the best number 6 (pair) in the Indian Super League.”

“Yeah, we could have won more games but in the end, it’s very important to think game by game. We will train and depending on that we decide about our line-up and plan.”

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