FC Goa head coach Juan Ferrando has faced a lot of concerns during the ongoing Durand Cup 2021 campaign. From losing Jorge Ortiz in the competition to an injury to another injury to the now outstanding Mohamed Nemil, Ferrando has his job cut out. FC Goa are in the semi-finals of the tournament after a 5-1 win over Delhi FC on Friday. Apart from the organization-controlled football of Goa, the match was lined with difficult and irrational challenges that a frustrated Delhi FC threw at the Goa players.
Except in the first 10 minutes, Delhi FC had no control over the game and once FC Goa went 2-0 up, the Delhi players began to despair and started throwing wild tackles – some of them punished. A yellow card was done by the referee while some were discarded.
In fact, in the first half, the Delhi FC players, as a team, were using shoulder blocks to stop the FC Goa players from playing. In quick succession, three shoulder blocks from the front, and although all three of them were given as free kicks, the referee decided not to brand a yellow one for a foul. Goa captain Edu Bedia also informed the referee that there have been three similar fouls by Delhi FC.
Also, Supradeep Hazra of Delhi FC was booked for a foul in the 44th minute, shortly after which he hit Alberto Noguera in the face. Although the referee gave a free kick for the foul, Hazra was not shown another yellow card, which would have meant Delhi would have gone down to 10 men.
Ferrando admitted that wild tackles in the quarter-finals intimidated him and it was important to keep players from getting injured.
“Of course when we play in this tournament and in the ISL, I get scared because you know, sometimes in football, these are tackles and it is necessary to protect the players. Also there are red card and yellow card rules and it is necessary for the referee to make the right decisions for the safety of the players.” News18.com.
During the match, Nemil also got injured as he seemed to have pulled his muscles. He was treated a bit on the pitch before being replaced. Nemil is the tournament’s joint top scorer, scoring four goals. He has been one of the top performers for the Gaur, but the day after the match, Ferrando was unable to confirm the extent of his injury.
“Today, doctors and physio are examining his injury. We will see, we have 4-5 more days to prepare for the semi-finals. At this point of time, it is difficult to talk about injury as we are taking day to day and will investigate till the last minute.”
read all breaking news, breaking news And coronavirus news Here
.