TEAM HERALD
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MAPUSA: “India is playing at the Lusofonia Games and we will request the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to shift the Federation Cup dates.” stated Shrinivas Dempo, AIFF’s senior vice-president, ahead of the AIFF’s Annual General Body meeting to be held at the Football House in Delhi, on Friday.
The Federation Cup is scheduled from January 14 to 31, which clashes with the 3rd Lusofonia Games, an international event to be held in Goa from January 18 to 29.
Francisco Neto, head coach of Indian football team taking part in the Lusofonia Games is currently an unhappy man with the Goan I-League club’s not releasing their players for the camp as promised before. The Lusofonia Games is an Under-21 event and players at this age are a pot of gold for the I-League club’s as it is mandatory for them to field two U-23 players in their line-up in the I-League as well as the prestigious Federation Cup to be held in Kerala.
The Lusofonia football team has to consist of 70 percent Goan’s with the remaining slot for outstation players. Goa sends four teams to the I-League- Dempo SC, Churchill Bros SC, Sporting Clube de Goa and Salgaocar FC which clearly indicates the abundance of talent in the State. But at this stage coach Neto has to fill the void of outstation players, and the earlier the I-League club’s co-operate the better it will be for the Portuguese coach to work with the team which may have to rub shoulders with giants of world soccer Brazil, Portugal and even the muscularly favoured Mozambique and Angola.
Shrinivas further clarified that coach Neto was not unhappy with the quality of the Goan players but the only problem he faces is that of the outstation players which will provide the cutting edge.
“Francisco Neto had given a presentation to the GFA executive committee on Wednesday. He has not complained about the quality of the boys, he only said that he had asked for certain players from the I-League clubs which have not yet reported for the camp but if they join at this stage he will be able to strengthen the squad substantially,” informed Shrinivas.
It is due to the immense efforts of Shrinivas, who is also the president of Goa Football Association and Goa’s chief minister, Manohar Parrikar that football is now the official sport of the State. However, as of now it appears that the India football team will certainly receive a thrashing in the international circuit and may also bring a negative image, not only to the State but also to the country, ahead of the U-17 World Cup, 2017 which India will play host to.
“Comparing to other countries like Brazil and Portugal, we are far behind in football but coach Neto is confident if he gets the desired players the team will put up a respectable performance,” added Shrinivas.
The AIFF policy mandates that all I-League clubs must release players for international events. The I-League goes into a long break from December 21, just when coach Neto has to submit his final list of the 20 best players. If the Goan I-League teams release their best players in time then it will be an amicable solution and if the AIFF reschedules the Federation Cup it will only show their seriousness about Indian football. Elvis Gomes, GFA’s vice-president (South) will accompany Shrinivas to Delhi tomorrow.
