Goa will face struggling Odisha in Indian Football League 2020-21 to extend the winning run after a 3-1 triumph over Kerala last week.
Match Timings: Dec 12, 7:30 PM IST
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The first win of the season at Fatorda opened Goa’s hopes in the 2020-21 season. The shield–winner of the previous edition had a mixed start to this season. Before beating Kerala, the Gaurs picked up just two points from the first three matches. They held Bengaluru and Northeast for a draw after conceding the early goal. In both draws, they pulled off the comeback, which is a good sign for Juan Ferrando. They received the defeat against Mumbai in its second game.
Against Kerala, Goa played dominating football and scored three goals in reply to one. Igor Angulo found his name on the scoresheet in the 29th minute. Saviour Gama finds Angulo, and he just lifted the ball over Kerala’s goalkeeper. The first half ended with no equaliser. In the 52nd minute, Brandon Fernandes handed a pass to Ortiz, and the Spaniard doubled the lead. After four minutes, Gama found Angulo again, but Goa missed out the opportunity. Both sides made a few substitutions in the next 15 minutes, but scoring was missing. In the 90th minute, Vicente Gomez scored the only goal for Yellows through a brilliant cross from Nishu Kumar, and later, Igor Angulo scored an easy goal with a shocking error from the goalkeeper to read the final score 3-1. Igor Angulo is now the leading goal-scorer of the season with five goals, including two braces.
Meanwhile, Odisha is struggling this season, adding just one point from the first four matches. They are only ahead of East Bengal in the table, sitting second from the bottom. The fact is, they met two strong sides in its previous two matches and conceded clean-sheets in both. They earned it’s only point against Jamshedpur, courtesy of Mauricio’s second-half brace. Things are not going well for Baxter as the head coach. Odisha needs to fix its defense issues, which was a big concern in the previous season as well. Conceding six goals from four with three clean-sheets is a serious issue.
In the previous game, Odisha were dominated by Sergio Lobero’s men from the starting of the game. Mumbai were awarded a penalty in the 30th minute, courtesy of a handball effort by Shubham Tyagi. Bartholomew Ogbeche converted this opportunity into the goal. After 15 minutes, Mumbai doubled the lead as Bipin Singh created an excellent pass, and Borges connected it with his head. In the second half, Marcelinho almost scored for Odisha, but the shot went wide off the post. In both cases, Odisha could have saved these two goals, and Baxter needs to make changes in the defense now. They haven’t beaten Goa in the last two seasons and in the previous season, Goa hammered Odisha by a 7-2 aggregate scoreline.
Possible Lineups & Current Form
Goa 
Mohammad Nawaz; Seriton Fernandes, Donachie, Gonzalez, Gama; Edu Bedia, Rodrigues, Brandon Fernandes; Alexander, Angulo, Jorge Ortiz
Current form – WD L D
Previous outing – 3-1 victory over Kerala
Odisha
Lineup: Arshdeep Singh; Jacob Tratt, Steven Taylor, Shubham Sarangi, George D'Souza, Marcelinho, Samuel Lalmuanpuia, Cole Alexander, Nandha Kumar, Daniel Lalhlimpuia, Manuel Onwu
Current Form – L L D L
Previous outing – 2-0 loss to Mumbai
Key Players
Goa
Brandon Fernandes
2 goals & 7 assists in Indian Football League 2019-20 
Igor Angulo
12 goals in Ekstraklasa 2019-20 
5 goals in Indian Football League 2020-21 
Odisha
Diego Mauricio
2 goals in Indian Football League 2020-21
Marcelinho
7 goals in Indian Football League 2019-20
2 goals in pre-season 2020
