FC Goa bade farewell to coach Manolo Márquez in the grandest way possible, overpowering Jamshedpur FC 3-0 in the 2025 ISL Super Cup final on a storm-soaked Saturday night at Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga Stadium. A first-half poacher’s effort and a curling 30-yard rocket in the 51st minute from Spanish midfielder Borja Herrera, followed by Dejan Dražić’s composed finish on 72 minutes, broke open what had been billed as a duel between Goa’s fluid attack and the tournament’s tightest defence. The result handed the Gaurs their second Super Cup crown, secured them a berth in the AFC Champions League 2 qualifiers and, perhaps most poignantly, gave Márquez a parting gift after two transformative seasons on the west coast.
The contest began at a furious tempo: Jamshedpur—unbreached in four previous matches—pressed high in a 4-2-3-1 and twice tested rookie goalkeeper Hrithik Tiwari inside the opening two minutes, first through Rei Tachikawa’s dipping drive and then a stinging effort from captain Javi Hernández. Goa’s response was to settle on the ball, stretch the pitch and drag the Red Miners’ double pivot out of shape. Full-back Aakash Sangwan and winger Dražić repeatedly forced Ashutosh Mehta and Ritwik Das to retreat, giving Brandon Fernandes licence to drift into half-spaces.
The breakthrough arrived on 23 minutes when Sangwan burst down the left, saw his low strike parried by Albino Gomes and watched Herrera’s first attempt blocked heroically by Stephen Eze before the Spaniard smashed in the rebound from eight yards. Jamshedpur’s best riposte came just before the interval when Lazar Ćirković’s glancing header clanged off the upright, a warning that kept Goa honest at the back.
Márquez’s men emerged after the break with even greater urgency, mindful of Jamshedpur’s counter-punching reputation. Six minutes into the half, Herrera doubled the lead with an audacious knuckle-ball from distance, a strike that both punished the space Jamshedpur left between lines and psychologically floored Khalid Jamil’s side. Chasing the game, Jamshedpur pushed Jordan Murray alongside Javier Siverio and left only Pronay Halder screening the back four, but that gambit invited Goa to spring counters.
The killer blow arrived on 72 minutes when Carl McHugh, imperious at the base of midfield, threaded a 40-metre pass in behind; Dražić timed his run to perfection, rounded Gomes and rolled the ball into an empty net. As the heavens opened and sheets of rain lashed the stadium, Goa simply managed territory, cycling possession through Edu Bedia and substitute Iker Guarrotxena while centre-backs Odei Onaindia and Sandesh Jhingan gobbled up long balls. Jamshedpur finished without a shot on target in the second period, a testament to Goa’s tactical control.
Strip away the goals and the contest was decided in midfield. Goa’s 4-3-3 morphed into a 2-3-5 in possession: Sangwan pushed high to form a front five, McHugh dropped between centre-backs to launch play, and Fernandes or Guarrotxena tucked inside to overload Halder and Tachikawa. Jamshedpur’s initial press faltered once Herrera began rotating into deeper pockets, forcing Hernández to choose between shadowing the ball or protecting passing lanes—either way, Eze and Ćirković were left exposed.
Conversely, Jamshedpur’s offensive plan hinged on hitting quick diagonals to Murray and hoping Siverio could pin Jhingan; yet Goa’s back line stepped up aggressively, caught Murray offside three times, and funneled attacks into wide areas where Seriton Fernandes doubled up. The Red Miners had built their run on compactness—three clean sheets, including a penalty shoot-out win over NorthEast United and a late 1-0 triumph against Mumbai City—but once they surrendered the middle of the park the structure fell apart.
The Gaurs’ road to the final showcased both resilience and flair. They topped their group, then staged a dramatic comeback in the quarter-final against Punjab FC, equalising through Herrera in the 88th minute and snatching a 90+2’ winner via Mohammed Yasir.
Four days later they brushed aside an under-strength Mohun Bagan Super Giant 3-1, powered by Brison Fernandes’s set-piece opener, an Iker Guarrotxena penalty and a late Herrera volley. That victory not only avenged a league defeat but also underlined Márquez’s knack for in-game tweaks: by pressing Bagan’s young midfield he forced errors high up the pitch, a template he refined for the final.
Jamshedpur’s journey owed more to grit than guile. They ground past NorthEast United 0-0 (5-4 on penalties) in a quarter-final dominated by defensive discipline, before stunning Mumbai City with Tachikawa’s 87th-minute left-footer in the semi-final. Throughout the tournament Jamil’s side excelled at closing central channels—Halder’s positional sense and Eze’s aerial strength were outstanding—yet their lack of a natural creator told once they had to chase a game. Still, this was the club’s first Super Cup final and an encouraging sign after finishing fifth in the ISL, one place outside the playoffs.
Post-match, Márquez struggled to hide his emotion. “Great tournament, fantastic group and they completely deserve to be the champions,” he told reporters. “We arrived here knowing we had to win four games, and we did it.” Herrera, voted player of the match in both semi-final and final, echoed that sentiment: “I feel very good here. We have an amazing group at Goa, we are a family and that is the main thing.”
On the opposite bench, a subdued Jamil said, “Everyone tried; we’ll have to bounce back from this disappointment.” Looking ahead, Goa’s immediate reward is continental: a preliminary slot in the AFC Champions League 2 offers valuable exposure, though the club must appoint a new boss capable of sustaining Márquez’s passing philosophy and keeping talismen Herrera, McHugh, and Guarrotxena together. For Jamshedpur, the objective is sharper attacking edges; the defensive platform is sound, but they will scour the off-season market for a clinical striker to convert tight matches into points.
As the trophy presentation was hastily moved indoors to escape a biblical downpour, Goa’s players danced in soaked orange jerseys, their reflections shimmering in puddles on the podium floor. It was a night of vindication for a team reinvented under a departing coach, a warning to the rest of the league that the Gaurs remain among India’s elite, and—if the Red Miners learn the right lessons—perhaps the prologue to an even fiercer rivalry when the new ISL season kicks off later this year.
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