ACL: Quarterfinal spot a must for FC Goa | Goa News
Panaji: FC Goa believe they have more than a decent chance of making it to the knockout stage of the AFC Challenge League, Asian football’s third tier club competition.Goa competed in the AFC Champions League Two last season and were drawn to play Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr FC, in group games that drew plenty of attention. This time around, Goa lost the ACL2 playoff against FK Arkadag in Turkmenistan and will now have to compete in the Challenge League.To be played in a centralised format, Goa have been drawn in group C, alongside hosts Qadsia SC (Kuwait), Fortis FC (Bangladesh) and FC Regar-TadAZ (Tajikistan) in a battle for the sole automatic quarter-final spot.Besides the three West Zone group winners, the best second-placed side will also advance to the next stage. Four teams from East will complete the quarterfinal lineup.The group stage will be played between Oct 17 and 24, with the quarterfinals and semifinals — both double-legged affairs — scheduled for March 3-18 and April 7-15 next year.“Whenever you play continental competitions, there are no easy games,” said club CEO Ravi Puskur. “We are yet to do an in-depth analysis (of the group stage opponents), but we owe it to ourselves to at least get out of the group (and qualify for the quarterfinals). That’s a fair ask.”The Challenge League does not have heavyweights like those Goa encountered last season in ACL2. But even the group stage is unlikely to be a cake walk with hosts Qadsia finishing third in the domestic league and Fortis making their debut on the continental stage after stunning Kyrgyz Premier League runners-up FC Muras United in the preliminary round.Formed just six years ago, Fortis finished third in Bangladesh’s top flight and gained entry into the Asian stage after champions Bashundhara Kings and runners-up Abahani were sidelined by FIFA bans.“Everyone wants to play Asian continents as high as possible but in our humble opinion, the Challenge League is our most realistic challenge. This is where we can test ourselves,” said Puskur.Goa did not measure up to the challenge against Arkadag, losing the playoff 3-0. The Super Cup champions are now expected to make additions to the squad.“We are definitely in the market, making inquiries, both at foreign and domestic level. Our budgets are not like before, we are constrained and have to work within our means. We are not ruling out signings,” said Puskur.Group fixtures:Oct 17: FC Goa vs FC Regar-TadAZ (TJK)Oct 20: Fortis FC (BAN) vs FC GoaOct 23: FC Goa (IND)vs Qadsia SC (KUW)
