Zico’s faith in strikers wavering

Margao: Zico made two significant points in the post-match conference and tried to tell whoever would listen: There is not much I can do.
FC Goa languish at the bottom of the pool after managing just one win at the end of the first leg, losing four times and now left with a mountain to climb in the second leg. The FC Goa coach did keep the faith, insisting his side can still turn it around in the remaining seven matches and qualify for the semifinals, but Zico’s tense body language belied the fluency of his words.
“As you know, we have four strikers and I gave all of them a chance to play. I cannot improvize and put someone else in their position,” said Zico after his side could only manage a goalless draw against Mumbai City FC at the Nehru Stadium in Fatorda on Sunday.
Zico has a point. All four strikers -- Miroslav Slepicka, Miguel Herlein, Ranti Martins and Tolgay Ozbey -- have had their chances but they have done little or nothing to win Zico’s confidence. Tolgay is the only striker to have scored a goal -- the matchwinner against Delhi Dynamos -- and it seems Zico has now run out of patience.
“You should ask the players this question,” suggested Zico, when one reporter sought to know if the strikers had a “mental block” when approaching the goal.
“My responsibility is to train the team. To tell them how to shoot the ball, the way they have to position themselves. But for the game, on the field, it is up to them to score,” explained Zico.
In the run-up to this game, the Brazilian legend had spoken of the imbalance in the side and also how little he could do since he was not involved with the selection process. Asked if FC Goa could have been better-placed had he selected more players of his choice -- Andre Santos is the only player he handpicked from Brazil -- Zico was left in no doubt.
“Yes, definitely. I was given a choice of only one player and I chose Andre Santos,” he said.