AFC Champions League Two: Jhingan: Character, desire took FC Goa through

Goa: Captain Sandesh Jhingan sees FC Goa’s success in reaching the AFC Champions League Two™ 2025/26 as the perfect reward for the Indian club’s desire to climb to greater heights.

Qualification into the Group Stage was achieved on Wednesday thanks to a hard-fought 2-1 win against Al Seeb Club where the Oman side threatened to stage a comeback and scupper FC Goa’s hopes of continental football for the first time since 2021.

“We are very happy with the win,” said Jhingan. “It's one of those games where we had to grind it out.”

“We can't be too proud of the performance because most of the time we were defending deep in our box and that's not how we like to play. We showed big character, a lot of energy and brilliant individual performances. "

“It's the camaraderie and unity of the team that shined through in this game. It's our first game of the season, so a little bit of rust is expected but at the end, we are going to the AFC Champions League Two and I'm excited for that.”

Dejan Drazic put FC Goa ahead in the 24th minute before Javier Siverio doubled their advantage eight minutes into the restart, with Nasser Al-Rawahi’s goal for Al Seeb on the hour mark making it a nervy end.

FC Goa will now go into Friday’s draw as the second representative from India with Mohun Bagan Super Giant also in the mix and Jhingan believes that the entire club deserve their place in Asia.

“It's massive for the club. When I came here three years ago, this was what we talked about, going big in Asia.”

Jhingan: Character, desire took FC Goa through

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