Panaji: Gouramangi Singh has had success with FC Goa as coach in the past. He won the Bhausaheb Bandodkar Memorial Trophy when Manolo Marquez was on national team duty, and last season, stepped up for a crucial clash against Mohun Bagan SG when the head coach was suspended.Whenever handed the opportunity, Gouramangi has delivered. But nothing would have prepared him for this season as he takes charge of the team, on his own, for the first time. It’s a trial by fire, and starts with the AFC Champions League (ACL) 2 playoff against FK Arkadag in Turkmenistan on Wednesday.Win and the club stays in the second tier of Asian football. Lose, and Goa will drop to the AFC Challenge League.“Pre-seasons are always nice because you are (only) training all the time,” Gouramangi told TOI prior to a training session at the Dempo academy ground in Old Goa. “So far in training, the players have responded pretty well. The real challenge starts when the league kicks off as we have a group of 24-25 players, out of which 11 will start a game. This happens week after week. That will be our big test.”Gouramangi, 40, is managing a team in the top tiers of Indian football for the first time. Most of his lessons have come from Manolo, where the two worked together for three years. It was the experienced Spanish coach’s recommendation that prompted Goa to bet on a domestic coach for the first time in the club’s history.“My approach to coaching is very clear; I try to simplify as much as possible for the boys to understand. Sometimes it’s not so easy because the time is short. But as someone who carries the principles, not just as coach but human too, I try and provide logic to everything that we do,” said the former India defender.Goa now are completely unrecognisable from the Super Cup winning team from last season.The experienced, and some promising, players have moved elsewhere; Brison Fernandes and Ayush Chhetri, two of Manolo’s automatic starters last season, have joined Chennaiyin. Besides, there are only four foreign players, only two of whom have trained with the team for a week.At least on paper, this team is nowhere close to last season’s side that stunned Oman champions Al Seeb in the ACL2 playoffs.“We have a lot of new faces, besides some seniors from previous seasons. In the last four weeks, we have worked hard in training, finding solutions rather than complaining about problems. I strongly believe we will have our moments (against Arkadag). We have some boys who, if they can rise up to the occasion, finish three-four chances that we get, maybe we can spring a surprise in Turkmenistan,” said Gouramangi.Arkadag are the undisputed champions of Turkmenistan. They entered the top-flight in 2023 and won all their 24 matches on debut to emerge champions. Since then, they have won all their league games, without dropping a point. In last season’s ACL 2, they narrowly lost the knockout clash against Al-Nassr FC.“We know what to expect from Arkadag,” said Gouramangi. “They are a typical central Asian side: physical and competitive. We may not be the favourites on paper, but we want to go there and prove that we are as good as anyone else. If there’s a 40% chance for us to win, we will make sure that we give everything.”
