“Mistakes Cost Us The Game” Bozidar Bandovic

Chennaiyin FC head coach Bozidar Bandovic was dejected after his team’s  1-0 loss against the FC Goa in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2021-22 match at the Athletic Stadium in Bambolim, Goa on Saturday. It was a tight affair for the most part of the match but a moment of magic from Jorge Ortiz won it for the Gaurs.

Chennaiyin FC began the contest with a free-flowing attack as Mirlan Murzaev tried to score an early goal, similar to that against Bengaluru FC but Ortiz’s (82’) sublime long-range goal broke the deadlock and settled the contest in FC Goa’s favor.

Chennaiyin FC, with just two shots on target as compared to Goa’s nine, remained sixth with 14 points – a position it had started the match at. While The Gaurs climbed one place to eighth with the win.

Head coach Bozidar Bandovic addressed the media after the match. 

Here are excerpts from his post-match press conference:

Do you think a draw would have been a fair result for you?

Yes, because it was a tight game without many chances. So, of course, they had more than us. They moved the ball better, what they always do. But without any changes, the game should have ended in a draw. Of course, we lost many balls, we didn’t do well even in attacking.

Would you say the goal was conceded from an individual mistake of Mohammad Sajid?

I always said it’s a team mistake. We should avoid such goals. 

You made a change in the formation with Lallianzuala Chhangte on the bench. What was the plan?

Of course, we started the game like this. We didn’t have problems, but we wanted to change something after he come inside with Lukasz Gikiewicz, the team was more aggressive. We wanted to make a change for the better, that moment we showed that we’re better even in attacking at that moment. So the goal was a little mistake that we could have avoided. If we didn’t concede the goal, we are the ones that played more aggressively, especially with the changes we made.