CARMONA: When he played football, it was not on manicured turf, but on the paddy fields of Goa, where the grass grew unevenly, leaving bald patches, prickly stones of all sizes and the threat of an injury. But he, and others of his era, played on, for the love of the game. His claim to fame came, when after captaining Goa in its first Santosh Trophy outing, he was picked up to play for the National team in 1966, and Menino Figueredo walked into history books of Goan football.
It was a goodwill tour of Russia in India – Nations International Colours – and Figueredo donned the Indian jersey for the match against Russia at Mumbai. A good 51 years later, and now in his 80s, the legendary footballer, whose exploits on the football field some recall even today, still holds the beautiful game close to his heart.
Figueredo does not play any longer, he hardly steps out of the house, but he does follow soccer and contemplates on the game of the past juxtaposing it with the present.
“Football hasn’t changed,” Figueredo says , vigorously shaking his head to a question of how the game is different today from the past. “It is the same. The youth today have changed. They have no love for the game. We loved the game and used to play whenever we had even just a little free time. Now it is not like that.”
What he points out to is that attitudes have changed, and also the natural flair of a player that has been overshadowed by coaching tactics that sometimes take away the ‘natural’, a word he stresses with a markedly Portuguese accent. “We played a natural game. You don’t see that any longer. Now the players are taught how to play and that makes the difference,” he told Herald, seated in the spacious sitting room of his Carmona residence, whose walls display pictures of his football highs.
Figueredo, who went from the red mud football fields of Goa to the Indian team in 1966, was surprised that there is no Goan player in the Indian Under-17 World Cup team, and reiterated, “There is no love for the game,” when he was told this. “If there was love for the game, there would have been players worth the team,” he added, pointing out that at the time he played there was no monetary benefit involved.
Age may have caught up with this footballer physically, but his sharp mind still follows the game. Speaking on the U-17 World Cup he said, “It will be difficult for India to play teams like Brazil and Germany. Their standards are different.” A few hours after he said this, India lost their opening game to USA conceding three goals. India still has to play Colombia and Ghana in their group.
Figueredo’s soccer career started early with him playing in the defence, and he got into the club scene at 17, even playing for the Goa Selection in 1959 against a visiting Pakistan team and also against Portugal’s Benfica, both matches at the Police Grounds, Panjim. He was also selected for a team that was to tour Portugal, but Liberation in 1961 put an end to that plan. He wound up with Salgaocar, where he spent 13 years on the field and in the latter part of his career in the forward line.
Though he stopped playing decades ago, ‘Menino’ as he is known in the neighbourhood remains a popular figure in the village, and this can be judged by how readily, the villagers of Carmona, especially the elders, direct you to the house, where Goa’s football legend spends his autumn years.
