Margao: FC Goa's coach and Brazilian legend Zico is expecting another close contest with Atletico de Kolkata in the second leg of their Indian Super League (ISL) semi-final here at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium on Wednesday.
Goa started the first leg strongly against Kolkata but the match ended goalless with Zico critical about the playing turf, though the master tactician would have his plans in place in the all-important away leg.
The Brazilian feels playing at home won't give Goa any advantage and it will be a close encounter once again. "It will be a difficult game as it was before in Kolkata. Goa and Kolkata are two strong sides but we will try to have a competitive match.
"It is a match of 180 minutes as there are two legs. First 90 minutes are over and now we have to make sure that in the next 90 minutes we come out on top," Zico said.
One of Goa's important players Narayan Das is all set to miss the second leg and Zico was not happy about it and blamed the Salt Lake Stadium turf for that. "We hope that it is not a long-term injury but he [Das] is certainly out for Wednesday's game.
"These kinds of injuries happen in leagues and competitive football. Also the kind of ground we played at Kolkata is not good for professional games," Zico added.
The Goan team hasn't lost a single game in their last nine outings and have conceded just three goals in the process. This was after having endured one of the worst starts as they were lying at the bottom of the table.
The winner of Wednesday's match will face Kerala Blasters in the final, who beat Chennaiyin FC 4-3 on aggregate over two legs .
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