Panaji: FC Goa have little time to fret over their opening round loss in the group-stage of the AFC Challenge League as they now face Bangladesh’s Fortis FC in a must-win clash at the Mohammed Al-Hamad Stadium in Kuwait on Tuesday.Goa were five minutes away from taking a big leap towards the quarterfinals of Asian football’s third-tier club competition but conceded twice in the last five minutes to lose against Regar-TadAZ. Now, the equation is simple: win or get left out.“We lost the opener and now we have to come back strongly against Fortis,” said Goa coach Gouramangi Singh. “We have to try and collect three points and see how we finish with the last game. We are taking the challenge game by game. We were close to winning the opener, but football is 90 plus minutes with extra time. We need to be focused.Goa have played three competitive games this season and are without a win. While both their games in continental championships ended in losses against Arkadag and Regar-TadAZ, they settled for a 1-1 draw against Chennaiyin in the ISL opener.“We have to recover quickly since there’s just two days (break before the games). We have to make a strong comeback,” said the Goa coach.Gouramangi fielded four foreign players in the opener against Regar-TadAZ with Franchu unavailable due to injury. The Argentinean winger has travelled to Kuwait, but his availability for Tuesday’s clash is yet to be confirmed.In their debut appearance in Asia’s third-tier club competition, Fortis have already taken their first step by upsetting Kyrgyzstan’s Muras United in the playoffs to reach the group stage. They now hope to make further history by reaching the knockout stage, a feat achieved by only Abahani in the AFC Cup in 2019.The Bangladesh side, however, lost 3-0 against Kuwait’s Qadsia SC in the opening match. Fortis, however, have nine foreign players in their squad with coach Masud Parvez Kaisar fielding all of them in the opening game.Fortis have also been in good form in the domestic league, winning two and drawing one, while scoring 15 goals.The team that wins Tuesday’s encounter will have everything to play for in the final group-stage game. A loss, however, will mean goodbye to qualification chances.
