It was a loud noise all over the stadium at Fatorda in support of
FC Goa soccer team in the second leg semifinal of ISL tourney, the degrees
of this noise was almost hundred percent and it looked Goa would easily carry
the day but the moment the otherwise star of the team and of course of the
tournament the Brazilian Andre Santos kicked the penalty over the bar, there
was a total silence in the stadium in a mournful manner. With this penalty kick
the chances of Goa reached to zero level.
When I was recruited by the then mighty Sesa Goa soccer team in
mid sixties, I was still a school student studying at the then mighty Arpora
school. One evening the big man of Sesa Goa, Mr. Conzen a German national
came to my place and incidentally at that particular time there was also
the presence of Dr. Gustavo Monteiro the then President of Goa Football
Association at my place. While in the conversation with Dr. Monteiro on
the topic of soccer, Mr. Conzen told Dr. Monteiro with a tinge of pride that
“his soccer team that year will perform very well because Sesa Goa got the
services of one Patiala qualified coach”. For this, Dr.Monteiro replied thus,
of course, sarcastically, “Mr. Conzen, there is no soccer coach in
India and Patiala is not competent to produce genuine soccer coaches. If
you want to develop the standard of Sesa's soccer team, then you must hire a
soccer coach for your team directly from Germany, however third rate he may be
in Germany.
The standard of this edition of ISL tournament was really
fantastic and extremely high compared to the existing Indian standard.
The major reason for this high standard was not only the presence of 6 foreign
experienced players in each team but due to the presence of foreign coaches for
each team. It was these experienced soccer coaches who moulded the players
according to their advanced methods. Among all the participating teams, FG Goa I can
rightly select as the best organized team that dished out really a good brand
of soccer with short accurate passing as if pushing the ball into the narrow
tunnel. In late fifties such a high standard was dished out by the
youthful Goan team, Academecia FC coached by the great priest Fr. Chico
Monteiro. Two players of that dream team Dr. Mazarello a Goan and Czar a
Mestiso were heroes of that great team. Mr. Cyril the Dempo soccer team
coach in early seventies also produced the then Dempo squad of the current type
of FC Goa.
The credit for the 360 degrees change in FC Goa must surely go to its legendary Brazilian Coach Zico though it looked in the beginning that Zico is unfit to coach FC Goa appropriately due to a few defeats FC Goa suffered in the beginning. The approach of Goan boys for the ball was forceful, the body feinting was as good as of any Eurpean team players, sudden changing of the direction of the movement of the ball from one side to the other was as similar as Brazilian and above all the teamwork with perfect combination was superb.
Zico’s coaching gave FC Goa a Brazilian flavour for this reason FC
Goa’s standard remained higher than of other teams even though Santos’ missed
penalty against Kolkotta in the second leg semi-final was the matter of
concern. However, for that matter even
Zico during his peak form in 1986 World Cup missed the crucial penalty kick. Today
Gulf Arabs have made tremendous improvement in the field of soccer only by
employing Brazilian coaching system.
Though the FC Goa had perfection in many areas yet it lacked firepower
in Portuguese Eusebian or German Gerd Muellerian style. This was the
weakness ingrained in Brazilian soccer even during Zico’s time when he played
for Brazil in the World Cups in 1982 and 1986 coached by the great soccer coach
Tele Santana who insisted Brazilian forwards to exchange passes even in
the goalmouth area.
Secondly, Santos was a weak link especially in FC Goa
attack because he was given a hero worship by the other players and with this
in mind he tried to control the whole game on his shoulders and in the bargain
he flopped at so many times. Next time FC Goa must induct at least 2
Santoses in its rank, if not three just as in 1970 World Cup Brazilian
squad created not one but three Peles in Tostao, Rivelino and Jairzinho besides
original Pele who was much relieved of his normal pressure.
The standard of Refereeing was very poor and inaccurate; some of
them were suffering from inferiority complex especially the Asians who easily
got intimidated by the non-Indian players when confronted verbally. It
was due to the wrong judgement of the Referee that Pinheiro of FC Goa was red
carded and again FC Goa was denied an otherwise sure penalty when Santos was
clearly fouled in the Box at Fatorda.
To conclude, the organizers of this tournament first time showed
their guts and wisdom in investing so much in this tournament resulting in
enormous dividends not only for the benefit of soccer development in India but
also for the benefit of players, sponsors and fans. If this trend
is carried forward, in the near future, in popularity and money, ISL will
conquer IPL in India. Thru this tournament it was proved beyond any doubt that
there is plenty of following all over India for the attractive brand of soccer
which could be easily enhanced by recruiting some of the current top players
from Europe and South America instead of those who crossed their prime because there is plenty of money in stock with all who are involved in ISL.
In this inaugural edition of ISL we saw not only glamorous soccer but also glamorous Bollywood Stars associated with Cricket celebrities and top business houses patronizing this edition. This combination can easily make India a real powerhouse in the world. It looks now the Sleeping Giant is awakened.
In the end, I congratulate Athletico de Kolkata a traditional soccer giant for winning the inaugural ISL tourney.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Candolim, Goa.
Tel: 7507394349.
