PANJIM: As the group round matches have come to an end the focus now shifts to the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda where the semi-finals, third place match and finals of the Lusfonia games will be played.
After being deprived off live action for a long time, football lovers from Salcete will finally get to see some live action. The stadium was renovated as a centre piece of the 3rd Lusofonia games and around 64 crores spent on it which saw some 20,000 people culminated to see the glittering opening ceremony. After the finals the stadium will then bring the curtain down on the tournament on January 29 with the closing ceremony.
The race to get the venues for football ready has already posed a monumental logistical challenge for Goa. In particular, the process of giving the Tilak Maiden and Nehru Stadium in downtown Margao a massive facelift has been a daily topic of conversation among fans as the bill has risen inexorably.
Since it’s reopening no game has been held at the stadium. It was originally planned that the I-League club matches would take place at the stadium for trial matches; however that couldn’t happen as the work couldn’t be completed on time. I-League clubs, who were used to playing home games at the iconic stadium, were forced to find Duler Stadium as an alternative.
There were some question marks over the playing field not being up to international standards but all that seem to be taken care of now.
The Nehru stadium, Fatorda is all set to host four big matches starting off with cracking semi-finals line up of Sri Lanka v/s Mozambique on Saturday at 4.30 pm and Goa-India vs. Macao on Sunday at 7 pm.
A huge crowd is expected for all the matches especially the ones which will feature the Hosts Goa India. The focus has finally shifted down south to re-ignite the passion of the Lusofonia games amongst the lovers of the beautiful game.
