We deserved a better result from the game: Kino Garcia is the head coach of Odisha FC.
Kino Garcia, the head coach of Odisha FC, thought his team was unlucky to lose 1-2 to Bengaluru FC in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) on Monday, as the result effectively destroyed their chances of reaching the semi-finals.
After Nadhakumar Sekar gave Odisha FC an early lead, goals from Danish Farooq and Cleiton Silva turned the game around for the Blues.
Garcia rued missed opportunities as his team slipped to their eighth defeat of the season.
The Spaniard addressed the media after the match.
Here are the excerpts from the post-match press conference:
Do you see the game as a failed opportunity to build on the early goal you scored?
Yes of course, with all the opportunities that we had, it’s unfortunate that we couldn’t win the match or at least get a draw.
Bengaluru FC had many key players missing. How disappointed are you that you couldn’t take advantage of that?
If you see all the chances we had and we couldn’t score. In the second half, they had one chance which was saved by Kamaljit and the penalty. Nothing more. We changed to a back three to come back and try and beat them and I think that we deserved something more but it’s football and if you don’t convert your attempts then you pay for it.
Do you think playing with two foreign defenders instead of an extra attacker could have made any difference to the result?
Bengaluru FC is one of the best teams on set-pieces and we conceded one goal on corner. So we wanted two foreign defenders who can mark the zone well. After their first goal we couldn’t come back and in the second half, with the speed of Aridai Suarez and the quality of other players we will have chances. I think in the second half we had control of the game, but the penalty made the difference.
Do you think the doors for the semi-finals are closed for you?
I am not sure mathematically, but I think it’s really very difficult. We are trying to keep up the mood and try to beat ATK Mohun Bagan, Jamshedpur FC and have as many points as possible. At the end of the day it’s a game, sometimes you lose, sometimes you win and you have to try your best. Today we were unlucky but maybe we will be lucky in the next match.