None Of The Players Who Went To India Camp Performed Well – Armando Colaco On The Loss To East Bengal

In a tightly contested game at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, East Bengal came from behind to beat table toppers Dempo SC 2-1 to throw the title race wide open.

Goal.com caught up with Dempo’s coach Armando Colaco after the match to find out his views about the match against the Kolkata outfit.

Colaco felt that his midfield had let the team down as they were easily dominated by East Bengal and felt lapses in defence cost the team two goals. He stated, “Our midfield totally flopped and they (East Bengal) came back into the game. Both the goals were a mistake of the defenders.”

This was Dempo’s second loss in a row, having succumbed to Goan rivals Churchill Brothers on the last matchday.

The longest serving coach in the I-League, Colaco though refused to comment on whether the national camp for the SAFF Championship was responsible for the slump in form of Dempo. He said, “I would not like to comment on that. All the teams win sometimes and lose sometimes, so it has got nothing to do with it. Yes, some of our players were away and they are a bit tired, that’s it. I feel none of the players who went to the Indian camp performed well.”

He however felt that East Bengal were deserved winners of the tie between them in Kolkata and mentioned, “Yes they played a good side, also they had a very settled team and they played no players who went to the Indian camp. But also they played well and so won.”

Colaco also felt that this loss doesn’t mean that the team was losing momentum in the title race and added, “It’s a long way to go. Nobody has the momentum, all the teams are fighting for the title. When we had won seven games in a row nobody said we are going to win the I-League. Just because we lost two games in a row, everyone is talking about change in momentum. It is still a long race ahead.”