PANAJI: The team is set; the new home jersey for the home matches have been revealed and as FC Goa prepare for their first match of Indian Super League 5 – away to NorthEast United FC in Guwahati on October 1 — the team fans are eagerly awaiting the announcement of the team captain.
Goalkeeper Laxmikant Kattimani was the captain last season. The captaincy was decided by a team vote. Kattimani’s inconsistent performances through ISL 4 could see a new face wear the captain’s armband for Season 5.
“The captain’s call is coach Sergio’s call. How he decides to get the captain selected is his prerogative. He may go for a vote again or choose the captain himself. Whatever he does, it will not have much bearing on the team as the captain’s role in football is limited,” stated a member of FC Goa, who travels with the team.
The choice before Sergio Lobera will be to choose between the foreign players and the Indian players in the team. A coach normally picks a player based not just on his performance but on his ability to carry the team along. There are two basic parameters on deciding the captain and Sergio has a choice of players from whom he could pick one.
The front-runners for the captain’s band could be Ferran Corominas, better known by his pet name Coro, Ahmed Jahou who is fondly called big baby by Sergio and Edu Bedia who portrayed an all-encompassing demeanour last season. New signing, defender Carlos Pena displayed qualities of a captain. However, friendly matches are not good gauges to assess players and it could be an early call, off the wind.
Sergio may opt for Coro not just because he ended last season with the golden boot but because he is one of the seasoned and more experienced players of the team. Coro has ended being the crowd favourite after his ability to convert goals and keep thrusting the team ahead of opponents through the 1730 minutes (20 games) and eighteen goals he scored. He capped his performance with five assists.
Coro’s former teammate Lanzarote has already been named captain of ATK. By naming Coro as captain, Sergio could well start a mind game with ATK before the start of the tournament. Or, he may decide to let Coro concentrate on goal scoring and shift the onus to another player.
Big baby Ahmed Jahou was another player whose work on the field had his characteristics on how FC Goa finished last season. He had the highest number of passes 1625 last year; made 105 tackles that saved the defence further embarrassment; had 14 shots at goal – some vicious — and played 1668 minutes in the nineteen games he started for FC Goa.
Ahmed may not have scored a goal. However, his ability to cover and guard spaces in the defence and find colleagues upfront could convince Sergio to give this player from Morocco the chance to lead from in front.
Edu Bedia could well be the third player in fray for the band. Though he may have been overshadowed by Lanzarote, Edu had a good debut season for FC Goa. His passing accuracy in the 18 games he played was 84.41 and apart from scoring a goal he was instrumental in two assists. Most importantly it was the 67 per cent share of ball distribution that stood him out as a good reader of the game and his colleagues.
If Sergio intends perking up the Indian players by passing on the captain’s band to one of them, then two names stand out. One could be Chinglensana Singh Konsaha or Sana as he is known or the other could be Lenny Rodrigues.
Sana is one vibrant player from India in FC Goa and his easy mannerism with the rest could help in calming nervous of the rest. Lenny Rodrigues is one of the senior most players from India in the squad and is a Goan.
“As a coach, I always pick the best player and someone who is capable of carrying along the rest with his performance and discipline on and off the field. I have always chosen captains who are accessible to the others and someone who knows to absorb pressure from his colleague,” stated a senior Indian coach of the I-League.
Sergio’s plans for ISL 5 could well be deciphered as he names his captain of the season.
