Three weeks of pre-season training to get ready for 11 games in 45 days; it is easy to understand why FC Goa’s Spanish coach Juan Ferrando says he has no time to relax. “I am thinking of the team 24 hours, talking to the coaching staff to get ready for the competition,” says Ferrando with a wry smile in a Zoom call on Friday.
Fixture congestion in ISL7, beginning on November 20 with all matches in Goa, has happened because of Covid-19 which delayed the start by one month. The pile-up of games is heavier for FC Goa because they will also play in the 2021 Asian Champions League (ACL), to be held in a yet undecided format. Ravi Puskur, FC Goa’s director of football, says the ACL schedule has them playing in Asia from January to April but the calendar may change. “ISL has been very helpful scheduling games till January (FC Goa’s last game is on Jan 6) which shows they want us to play this tournament,” he says.
But that is next year. “As a football or basketball coach you can’t think about two, three months,” says Ferrando, 39.
ISL returns when many players have been off football since March and unable to train because of hard lockdowns. So, Ferrando is worried about not getting a longer pre-season. “We are talking to all the players. There has been a lot of injuries in Europe, in the Champions League, in Bundesliga. Lot of games means lot of stress. It has been difficult for many players to work out in the gym or the pitch for long (because of the lockdown). Not only FC Goa, a lot of teams will have a lot of problems. The recovery programme is very important,” says Ferrando who replaced Sergio Lobera this term.
Ferrando’s concerns are not misplaced. Lack of adequate pre-season preparation has led to a spurt in penalties—36 so far in 2020-21 as opposed to 92 in all of 2019-20—shoddy defensive organisation and a spike in muscle injuries in the Premier League. A report in The Athletic listed a 42% increase in muscle injuries in the 2020-21 Premier League from last season.
With Australian centre-back James Donachie the last player out of the mandatory 14-day quarantine on October 31, FC Goa have three weeks to get ready for their opener, against former champions Bengaluru FC on November 22. Asked if that was enough, midfielder Lenny Rodrigues says, “I don’t think so. But we have to adjust. I am happy that I can train with teammates. Before that (during lockdown) it was very difficult when we could just follow training programme given by the physical trainer.”
A new coach with a young squad, one which lost a number of players to Mumbai City FC where Lobera is coach, FC Goa are doing two sessions on the pitch daily with an optional gym session in the afternoon. “My first job is to explain the methodology to my players. That involves working on the tactical, physical and mental levels,” says Ferrando whose team will be led by Spanish central midfielder Edu Bedia.
For Igor Angulo, it feels like a normal pre-season. “Morning, evening, you train and (in between) you rest,” says the Spanish striker who was a top draw in the Polish league with Gornik Zabrze for whom he scored 23 goals in 2017-18 and 24 next season. “The challenge will be when you are locked in a hotel and have a day off and when you have one session per day. Mentally it could be a problem,” says Angulo, 36, recruited as a like-for-like replacement for Ferran Corominas.
“25 hours in a hotel can be very difficult for some. Young players will want to talk with family, be with girlfriend. There will be lot of stress but we need to be compact, be positive. These are strange moments but we will be all right,” says Ferrando.
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