The Igor Angulo mystery: Why is FC Goa’s leading man frozen out of the squad?

Igor Angulo celebrating a goal
Igor Angulo celebrating a goal against Odisha FC

There are tensions brewing between FC Goa striker Igor Angulo and his head coach Juan Ferrando as the Spanish forward has been frozen out of the Gaurs squad over the last three matches.

Angulo was a player that FC Goa has been craving for a long time and after Coro’s departure, everything fell in place for the signing to take place. The 36-year old had big boots to fill though when he arrived as Coro stamped his name all over ISL becoming the league’s all-time leading goalscorer in just three seasons of ISL winning the ‘Golden Boot’ twice.

On arriving in Goa, Angulo proved why the club was after him for three years as he scored 9 goals in his first 8 appearances of the season, starting all of those matches. The Spanish striker came up with goals in crucial moments, winning a lot of matches in the first half of the league season.

Even after being frozen out of the squad over the last three weeks, Angulo is still leading the ‘Golden Boot’ race with 9 goals as Nerijus Valskis has 8 goals for Jamshedpur FC with both Roy Krishna and Diego Mauricio at 7 goals each for the ongoing season.

Jorge Ortiz was playing on the left side of the attack and has moved to the centre of the strike force over the last few matches. The 28-year old forward now has 5 goals in this league season with three of those scored in the last three matches when he was started in the centre-forward position.

According to some reports coming out of FC Goa’s quarantine camp, Angulo had a verbal spat with the manager, a year younger than him surprisingly and the striker has since been on the football pitch for only 56 minutes in the last three matches, not even playing a single minute in top of the table crunch match against ATK Mohun Bagan FC.

Going ahead, Angulo might be restored to the line-up in the near future with Goa playing a couple of important matches against Kolkata giants SC East Bengal, NorthEast United, and table toppers Mumbai City FC. 

The Gaurs was also drawn in their AFC Champions League group with last year’s runners-up Persepolis and Laurent Blanc managed Al-Rayyan confirmed opponents. If the club wants to do well in their first-ever continental competition, they would surely need the presence and experience of Angulo on the pitch as well as in the dressing room.

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