Panaji: Manolo Marquez has signed a new one-year contract with FC Goa after officially ending his stint as coach of the national football team.The Spanish coach had a dual role last season, taking charge of the national team and continuing with his job as coach of Goa. The experiment didn’t fetch expected results as India won just one of the eight matches, so a month into his contract as a full-time coach, he decided it was best to part ways, mutually.Early this month, the AIFF executive committee considered the request and decided to terminate the two-year contract, without any financial implication.“Once freed from his contract, it was only a mere formality for him to return to FC Goa,” a senior official told TOI on Thursday.AIFF has also terminated the contracts of Benito Montalvo (asst head coach), Jose Barroso (S&C coach) and Marc Gamon (goalkeeping coach). Two of the coaches – Benito and Marc – will continue with Manolo at Goa.Manolo achieved impressive results for his clubs – Hyderabad and Goa – winning trophies over five seasons in the country, but he will not look back at his national team stint with any fondness. India won one game out of eight that they played, a friendly against lower-ranked Maldives. His side also failed to score in the last two games, against Thailand (0-1) and Hong Kong (0-2), both of which they lost.For Goa, Manolo was a big hit, guiding the team to a second-placed finish in the ISL last season, and topping it with the Super Cup triumph. The win helped qualify for Asian competitions.Goa are preparing for the crucial AFC Champions League Two clash against Oman champions Al Seeb. Should the hosts cross the preliminary hurdle at Fatorda on Aug 13, they will move to the group stage where Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr FC will be one of the participants.Manolo’s return to Goa will hardly raise eyebrows, given that the experienced Spanish coach had made his admiration for the club known. Goa, too, were ready to welcome him with open arms.“I think only a fool would turn down the opportunity to have Manolo as coach,” Goa CEO Ravi Puskur said during a Townhall With TOI last week. “Given that he has expressed satisfaction at his time in Goa, we would obviously look to renew that partnership.“From a pure numerical value, he is the most successful coach Goa have had. He built a very good group last season, perhaps the most united I’ve seen in the last ten years at the club. A large part of that is due to the coach’s mentality.”
