Football: Goa edges out Maharashtra

By S.R. Suryanarayan

LUDHIANA, NOV. 28. It took the fourth pair of kicks in the `sudden death' phase to resolve the first semifinal match, Goa edging holder Maharashtra 7-6, in the men's football competition of the National Games at the floodlit Guru Nanak Dev stadium here on Wednesday.

Goalless at regulation time and extra time, the contest went into the five set of kicks in the tie-breaker phase and at the end outcome remained unresolved at 4-4, both sides missing one kick each. Then in the sudden death, Mario Pereira put Goa ahead, Sushil Karthak restored parity and Filip Gomes' and Shariyat Raz' kicks were saved. At 5-5, Sukhdev Arwade put Goa up again only to see Kamal Thapa equalise. The fourth pair of kicks was to turn decisive when Dominic Noronha shot in, but Narendra Meetei, Maharashtra's key striker, sent his kick wide. Instantly the middle of the turf turned into a sea of emotions, the Goans rejoicing and the Maharashtra players sulking.

Rarely does a contest so evenly matched, extend this length, nearly two and a half hours and still leave one with the feeling that action could have been better and not simply a battle of attrition.

The wings were hardly used with efforts often turning a drag down the central corridor but to purposeless end. In fact so similar seemed the Coaches' line of thinking that even substitutions came only in the extra time phase and what is more both Coaches removed their respective goalkeepers for fresh hands after the first kick in the tie-breaker phase!

Goa appeared to have a thin ascendancy which could have assumed massive had Sukhdev Arwade shot in from a third minute opportunity right at goalmouth. The next chance came in the 75th minute at Goan end when Samson Singh had goalkeeper Felix D'Souza stretching his right leg to save. Then in the extra time, Menino Fernandes could have struck the golden goal for Goa had his 30- yarder, with goalkeeper not in charge, been accurate. In the shoot-out, Maharashtra substituted Raymon Cardozo for Ishrat Kamal in goal and Goa brought in Augustine Rebello for Felix.

Savio Perreia, Menino Fernandes, Seby Mendes and Vico D'Souza scored for Goa in the tie-breaker (Lazarus Fernandes missed), while Naushad Moosa, Adil Ansari, Nasir Jamal, Samson were successful for Maharashtra and Osbern D'Souza missed as the contest entered the sudden death.

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