MAPUSA: The Super League crown will be decided on Friday. There are three contenders – Dempo, Sporting, Salgaocar – for the coveted title.
Holders Dempo SC (27 points) will take on FC Goa (22 points) at Tilak stadium, Vasco, today, where a win will help them to retain their GPL title.
In the other match, Sporting Clube de Goa will take on Churchill Bros at Duler stadium, Mapusa. A defeat for Dempo and a win for Sporting Clube de Goa (26 points) against Churchill Brothers SC (21 points) will enable Sporting Clube de Goa to clinch the GPL title.
Salgaocar FC (25 points) also has a distant chance to clinch the title if they defeat Calangute Association (20 points) and at the other end Dempo SC and Sporting Clube de Goa lose their last Super League matches.
Salgaocar FC coach Levino Pereira (Hambo) said his team’s standing was good before the start of Super League (24 points). However, from the three Super League matches we managed to collect just one point. Sporting Clube de Goa’s assistant coach Climax Lawrence said his boys have been playing good brand of football and they have collected five points in the Super League matches.
Dempo’s in-charge, Samir Naik was not reachable despite repeated calls. They are leading with 27 points.
When contacted, Richard Sanches of Dempo, said that the players were tired after having played in Second Division I -League matches as well as Super League. “They have had no rest for the past 48 hours. It is pretty difficult to play without proper rest. The GFA did not heed to our request for postponement and they also changed the venue. We had asked for two days postponement and we have yet another I-league match on April 2, after having played on March 29. It is pretty tough. Our President, Srinivas Dempo urged the boys to put in their best and that he would try to be present for the match tomorrow,” added Richard.
Meanwhile, there were problems concerning the venues allocation for the three crucial matches due to disagreement by some of the teams in playing the matches as per the draw dated March 28 which is as follows – Salgaocar vs Calangute Association at Ella; Dempo vs FC Goa at Tilak stadium and Sporting Clube de Goa vs Churchill Bros at Duler stadium, Mapusa. The GFA tried to sort out the issues by drawing lots of the final round in the interest of fairness and transparency.
The GFA on March 29, intimated Dempo that their match scheduled to be played at Tilak Stadium, Vasco “cannot be reverted back to the original fixture circulated on March 24 – Salgaocar vs Calangute Association at Duler; Dempo vs FC Goa at Ella and Sporting vs Churchill at Tilak, nor it can be postponed to any other suitable date.” Further, Dempo were given the option of informing about their preference of the three grounds.
Dempo had requested to play at Ella ground and not at Tilak stadium due to their matches in the Second Division I-League as they were playing on March 25 and 29 and then a GPL match on March 31. They had said that if the match cannot be played as per the schedule of March 24 at Ella ground, then the match be postponed to any other suitable day. “It was felt that an alternate venue could be suggested to Dempo for the GPL match on March 31 at Nagoa or Bambolim, whichever is most suitable for Dempo as the GPL matches could not be postponed any further.”
Sporting Clube de Goa had stressed that the Dempo vs FC Goa match was originally scheduled to be played at Tilak and that it was shifted to Ella which is the home ground of Dempo while the match between Sporting and Churchill Bros scheduled to be played at Duler had been shifted to Tilak where the first leg was already played. Sporting had pleaded that the Dempo vs FC Goa be maintained at Tilak and Sporting vs Churchill at Duler.
