Ritabrata Banerjee 06:03 SAST 2021/04/19 FC Goa registered their second consecutive draw in the AFC Champions League on Saturday as they held UAE s Al Wahda FC.
After a historic draw on their AFC Champions League debut against Qatar s Al-Rayyan SC, FC Goa managed to hold UAE s Al Wahda FC to a goalless draw in their second match of the group stage on Saturday.
Al Wahda, managed by former Ajax manager Henk ten Cate, were the favourites on paper but a gritty performance by Juan Ferrando s side allowed them to pick a point.
As FC Goa earned themselves yet another creditable result, Goal takes a look at the key takeaways from the clash.
Goal.
Murgaonkar had fetched Salgaocar a transfer fee of INR 10 lakhs. He scored once in his debut Indian Super League (ISL) season with Goa as he saved his side s blushes in a 1-1 draw against East Bengal and before that, nine goals for Salgaocar in the Goa Pro League that was discontinued due to the Coronavirus pandemic last season.
Surprised, Murgaonkar?
Murgaonkar particularly had an impressive performance in the tie against Al Wahda on Saturday wherein he nearly contributed to a goal in his first minute on the pitch. He also displayed composure when it came to bringing the ball into the final third.
Meanwhile, FC Goa s manager Juan Ferrando named an unchanged XI that earned them a vital point against Al Rayyan in their campaign opener.
Ismail Matar was in the thick of things right from the beginning with the 38-year-old using his wide range of passing skills to keep his side ticking.
While on the right, Khalil Ibrahim was the live wire as he kept asking questions of Sanson Pereira with his pace and dribbling skills.
In fact, the first significant chance of the match fell for Wahda when Goa s keeper Dheeraj Singh scuffed his clearance but before Matar could pounce, James Donachie rushed in with a crunching challenge to clear the danger.
What now for Al Wahda?
The former Ajax boss pointed out Goa s humidity, just like Al Rayyan boss Laurent Blanc, put Al Wahda in an unfavourable position. But he has now set sights on the remaining four games in the 2021 ACL group stage. Humidity is undoubtedly an influencing factor because players lose a lot of fluids. Undoubtedly, teams with players who are fasting will face the same problem, he spoke of the weather conditions in Goa which are not conducive for players observing Ramadan. We are trying our best to make the players look their best in these circumstances. Now we are working on recovering the players and we will make preparations for the next match directly. There is always a place for development and in these matches we talk to the players and we are still in competition as we have four matches. I hope that luck will be on our side during the upcoming matches, ten Cate signed out.