FC Goa Development Team has made it to the finals of RFDL for the first time

Panaji: If he had enough options, FC Goa Coach Manolo Marquez said he will field 11 Goa players for the senior team Indian Super League (ISL).He doesn’t have enough right now. For the last fixture against Odisha FC, Manolo chose goalkeeper Bob Jackson Raj and midfielder Harsh Patre for rare starting roles, while Bryson Fernandes was a second-half substitute.“We have to continue to work at the grassroots level in the academy to ensure that development team players progress to the senior team,” Manolo told reporters during his pre-match media interaction last week. “Some players have already trained with us, played some games. It is not just about including Goan players (in the senior team). They should be ready.”This season, Citroy Carvalho, Malsavamtlunga, Wellington Fernandes, Jovial Dias and Lionel Rimmei were given the opportunity to train with the senior team. Centre-back Citroë, one of the development team’s most promising players, also featured in the AFC Champions League Two and the Super Cup.Prachit Gaonkar was another player who graduated from the junior to the senior team last season and subsequently featured in the ISL, a long tradition that has seen a stable lineup of players progress since 2018.Manolo said, “The young players are doing well with the development team. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the team for making the semi-finals for the second consecutive time. Goa is the only team to do this (for two consecutive years) and that tells you the quality. It is not easy, and there are a lot of Goan players in the team.”Manolo was congratulating the team for making it to the knockout stage of the Reliance Foundation Development League (RFDL), an under-21 tournament for the country’s best teams. Last season, Mohun Bagan Super Giant, Classic FA, Jamshedpur and FC Goa made it to the last four. This time, Goa remains the only team from last season’s quartet to enter the knockout stage and has in fact done better by qualifying for the final where they will face bengaluru fc On Saturday.It will not be an easy contest for Goa against an impeccable Bengaluru side, whose team is loaded with some of the best young footballers in the country, most of whom hail from Manipur. Their 10–0 aggregate win against Kerala Blasters in the semi-finals came as no surprise to those who followed the competition.It is commendable for Goa to reach the final for the first time.“It’s not easy with so many top teams and elite young players,” Manolo said.The experienced former coach of India has a point. Recently, sixteen players of India Under-20 SAFF Championship team participated in the semi-finals of four teams. Of the 64 players in the field, Goa and Kerala had 11 players each from the state, which is the second best after Manipur (25).“I think technically, the Goans are very good players, but in modern football it is not enough. Maybe in the past, this quality (alone) would have been good, but now you need to think quick. It is not about being strong, but about being smart. When you receive the ball, you know the opponent will press, so you have to be able to improvise and adapt.Manolo said, “If you look at the Goa Professional League, all the teams play from the back. Technically, the Goan players are fine, but we need something more in terms of physicality and everything else. If Goa continues to work at the grassroots level, in the academy, you will soon see a lot of Goan players in the senior team.”This will be music to the youth of FC Goa.Manolo was in the stands for the semi-final against Punjab FC and went to the team after sealing their place in the final. Next season, he will definitely welcome some of them to the senior team.