PANJIM: The Goa football team captain Micky Fernandes failed to lead by example, as he lost his cool and punched teammate Mario Mascarenhas in the hotel room, after their 2-0 defeat at the hands of Punjab, in the bronze medal match of the ongoing 35th National Games, in Kerala, on February 7.
Goa were trailing their opponents and Mario, the captain of Goa Professional League outfit Santa Cruz Club of Cavelossim, insisted his skipper should press more men forward and change the tempo of the game to bounce back into the match.
This did not go down well with the short-tempered Micky, who is known for his hard tackles on the pitch and often finds his name in the referee’s book.
On February 7, after the match, which started at 4 pm concluded after 90 minutes, and the team left for their hotel, at about 7.15 pm Micky entered Mario’s room and punched him on his nose, leaving the defender bleeding.
The team performed as one unit until the ugly incident. After a successive Santosh Trophy campaign, which sealed a place for Goa in the final round under Micky’s leadership, the same squad along with some new additions were selected to represent the State for the National Games.
Given the current circumstances, all the players have now
threatened to boycott the Santosh Trophy final round until strict disciplinary action is taken by the Goa Football Association (GFA) and its President, Elvis Gomes, against Micky.
Sources from the GFA stated that the reason which led to the brawl was division among the players over the captaincy which led to groupism.
Initially, Tuff Laxmi Prasad SC’s prolific striker Marcus Mascarenhas led the side as Goa humbled Tamil Nadu 6-1, in the opening match, on February 1.
This didn’t go well with Micky, the ex-skipper of Air India who hails from Cuncolim. However, after pressure from the GFA’s top management, Micky was named skipper for the second match which they lost to Maharashtra 5-3.
“I am currently down with fever and do not have a clear picture of the incident. The GFA will surely look into the matter and action will be taken accordingly after the manager’s report,” Gomes said, late Friday night.
The team arrived in Goa, on February 11 and manager, Patrick D’Souza is yet to submit his report to the GFA.
