TEAM HERALD
sports@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The I-League has just concluded but city heavyweights Sporting Clube de Goa and Dempo Sports Club have a final job pending as they lock horns in the finals of GFA’s Knock-Out tournament at 4.15 p.m. at Duler Stadium, Mapusa, on Thursday.
Sporting Clube qualified for the coveted finals after defeating last season’s winners Salgaocar FC in an exciting semi final which ended 3-2 in favour of the Goa Pro League Champions. At the other hand, Dempo had a comfortable 4-1 victory over Wilred Leisure Sports Club in the other semis.
Sporting Clube are on course of a double this season, having also won the GFA Super Cup. It will be The Flaming Oranje’s third major title within twelve months in Goa.
“The Goa tournaments are very important to us as we have a strong base of Goan players who will get to play in front of their family, friends and well wishers, in a very competitive environment,” remarked the Sporting Clube head coach, Oscar Bruzon. The Spaniard is also happy that the match is being played at Duler Stadium, their favourite hunting ground where they undefeated in a series of I-League matches last season. “We have a very good record in the Goa Pro League and I-League at Duler and I believe it is because of the tremendous support of the local fans. We have not played there for quite some time and this is an added incentive for our players to give back something to the fans by putting on a knock-out performance,” signed off Oscar.
