Sporting Clube de Goa U-18 lose final on penalties

GFA U-18 LEAGUE

Sporting Clube de Goa and Dempo in GFA U-18 North final

In the Panjim derby, Sporting Clube de Goa were edged out 4-2 via the tie-breaker by Dempo Sports Club in Gfa’s U-18 North district final, at Duler Stadium, Mapusa, on Thursday. The match ended 1-1 after regulation time.
The first half ended goalless, as both teams held onto their ammunition until the second session.
Dempo raced into the lead within five minutes of resumption, when Elvis Barretto easily slipped past his marker at the back post and slotted the ball into the far corner.
Ten minutes later, Dempo nearly doubled their lead when Sandford Rodrigues tried a neat chip, which beat the goalkeeper, but came crashing back of the cross bar.
With eight minutes left on the clock, Sporting Goa finally found the equalizer when Joel Fernandes pushed the ball through for substitute Aahan Philips and he blasted the ball home.
In the tie-breaker, Elvis, Sanford and Leslie Costa scored for Dempo and only Joel converted successfully for the Flaming Oranje Juniors.
After finishing as runners-up in the north zone, Sporting Goa qualified for the state play-offs.

Pratesh Shirodkar and Stephene voted Sporting Clube de Goa player’s of the season

Pratesh Shirodkar, Captain Mathew Gonsalves and Stephene Barretto

With 18 votes, Pratesh Shirodkar was handed the “Sporting Clube de Goa” players’ player of the season award at an end of season ceremony, at Models Mystique Heights, boutique hotel, Caranzalem on Wednesday.
“The fact that the award was voted by team mates, makes it extra special. I want to thank them and look forward to working even harder next season,” remarked Pratesh.
Sporting Clube de Goa’s top goal scorer for the second season running, Ogba kalu finished narrowly in second place with 17 votes. Kalu very sportingly presented the winner’s award to Pratesh. Striker Dawson Fernandes took third place with 11 votes.
Stephene Barretto was voted the “Sporting Clube de Goa” Player’s young player (U-23) of the season, while Dawson Fernandes and Pratesh were tied for second place with 10 votes each.
“I want to thank the president Peter Vaz for keeping faith in the young Goan players and also my team mates and coaches for their support,” stated Stephene.

Sporting Clube de Goa team posing with Goa Super Cup at Don Bosco High School

In the morning a special mass was held at Don Bosco High School, Panjim where all the players and management were present.
The awards ceremony which was organised to reward and recognize the player’s achievements was a very low key affair. The players had the opportunity to have a laugh and a joke over lunch, before they go on a much deserved break. The senior team will be back in training in the first week of July.

PHOTO: (left to right) Player of the year Pratesh Shirodkar, Captain Mathew Gonsalves holding the Goa Super Cup and young player of the year Stephene Barretto
PHOTO: Goa Super Cup champions Sporting Clube de Goa posing with the trophy at Don Bosco, Panjim

Sporting Clube de Goa clinch Super Cup in final minute

Victorious Sporting Clube de Goa team

GFA GOA Super Cup final

Victorino Fernandes netted the winner in the 90th minute as Sporting Clube de Goa overcame Sesa Football Academy 1-0 in GFA’s Goa Super Cup final at Duler stadium, Mapusa on Monday. The match was goalless at the interval.
With time running out, substitute Freiman Peixote crossed the ball swiftly into the danger area where Victorino timed his run to perfection to slot home the winner for Sporting Clube de Goa.
The game was exciting from beginning to end with both teams coming close on a number of occasions.
In the fifteenth minute the ball rebounded off Sesa’s Mauvin Borges into the path of team mate Chikwudi Chukwuma but his effort sailed over the cross bar.
At the other end, Victorino’s cross from the right wing flew across the face of goal but Dawson Fernandes and Valerio Rodrigues could not get the final touch.
Midway through the first half, Sporting Goa’s Ogba kalu passed to Juanfri who crossed for Victorino and he flung himself at the ball but it missed his head by inches.
Sesa moved on the counter as the ball bounced over the Sporting Goa captain Mathew Gonsalves and into the path of Chikwudi but his effort went just over the bar.
Ten minutes before the break, Sesa’s Mauvin Borges headed onto the cross bar and Chikwudi’s powerful follow up was wonderfully saved by the Sporting Goa custodian Sourav Chakborthy.
The final five minutes of the first half was nail biting for both sides as Sesa came close to scoring when Chikwudi’s free kick dipped just over the cross bar.
Just before the break, Sporting Goa’s Juanfri passed to Victorino and his header was hooked away on the goal line, for a corner by Sesa defender Lenstan Afonso.
The second session was just as pulsating, but with fewer clear cut chances. In the 69th minute Sporting Goa’s Victorino Fenandes sent out another warning of his intentions, when Sesa’s Caitano Viegas had to clear his shot of the goal line.
Right at the death Victorino finally got the goal he deserved as he kept his compsure to tap in the winner for the Flaming Oranje.
Sporting Clube de Goa president Peter Vaz was present on the occasion. Navelim MLA Avertano Futardo was the chief guest and gave away the winner’s trophy in the presence of GFA executive members Benjamin Silva (Velim MLA), Elvis Gomes (South vice president), Lavinio Rebello (north vice president), Babli Mandrekar, Welwyn Menezes, Alirio Lobo, Sanjiv Nagvekar.

PHOTO: Victorious Sporting Clube de Goa team along with club president Peter Vaz

Sporting Clube de Goa face Sesa in final at Duler

GFA GOA SUPER CUP FINAL

On the final day of the season, Sporting Clube de Goa faces a young Sesa Football Academy in the GFA Super Cup final at Duler Stadium, Mapusa on Monday. The kick off is scheduled for 4pm.
Sporting Goa coach Oscar Bruzon is looking forward to his first final in charge of the Flaming Oranje. “The players have worked exceptionally hard and deserve to enjoy the occasion, but they know the job is not over and winning is all that counts,” stated the Spaniard.
In the semi final, Sporting Goa edged past Super League champions Salgaocar 2-1, while Sesa defeated Dempo 2-0.
“They have three or four good players who are ready to play in the I-League, so we cannot underestimate them, but I’m sure if my players are awake from the kick off our experience will bring us through,” remarked Sporting Goa coach Oscar.
Sporting Goa will be without defenders Rojen Singh and Samananda Singh who are still nursing knee injuries, but Captain Mathew Gonsalves is set to return after missing the semi final clash with a minor hamstring strain.
At the start of the season Sporting Goa had signed Pratesh Shirodkar and Valerio Rodrigues from Sesa. Tough tackling Pratesh has been the dynamo in the midfield, while Valerio has recently come into some very good form. As his team mate, Juan Pena proclaimed recently after watching him score a free kick, “Valerio- technically he’s our best player.”
So will it be Sesa led by the likes of Mauvin Borges, Girish Naik and Chikwudi Chukwuma or will it be Sporting Goa packed with the likes of Pratesh, Valerio, Victorino Fernandes and top goalscorer Ogba kalu who come away victorious?
If you study the form guide, on the opening day of the season, Sesa surprised their opponents by winning 2-1 in the Goa Pro League. Just last month Sesa nearly created another shock by going three goals up against the Panjim outfit, before losing 3-4 to Sporting Goa who managed to pull off the comeback of the season by scoring four goals in the final twenty two minutes.
That match has remained fresh in the minds of all the players for different reasons, while the supporters have not stopped talking about what they witnessed that day.
Over the last few seasons, Bardez outfit Sesa have gained good crowd support in Duler, with the families of their local scholars coming out to support them, but off late Sporting Goa have also enjoyed entertaining sellout crowds in the I-League and have virtually made the Duler Stadium almost a second home.
Whether the fans are wearing the blue of Sesa or the Orange of Sporting Goa, all will be hoping for another thrilling afternoon of football as the curtain comes down on another season.

Picture: Sporting Clube de Goa midfielders Valerio Rodrigues (left) and Pratesh Shirodkar (right) with their eyes firmly on the prize.

Sporting Clube de Goa storm into final

GFA Super Semi-final

Ten men Sporting Clube de Goa stormed into the finals after edging past Ten men Salgaocar Football Club 2-1 in Gfa’s Super Cup semi-final at Duler Stadium, Mapusa, on Friday. Sporting Goa 1-0 led through a Juan Pena strike at half time.
In the second session Dawson Fernandes doubled Sporting Goa’s lead, while substitute Josimar Da Silva pulled back a consolation goal for Salgaocar.
Salgaocar had Augustin Fernandes sent off in the 85th minute for his second bookable offence and just four minutes later, Sporting Goa were reduced to ten men after substitute Mackroy Peixote received his marching orders for his second caution of the game.
Sporting Goa showed maturity as they battled throughout the game to get the necessary result. The midfield supported the defence well and stayed focused till the final whistle.
Salgaocar were very unlucky as they rattled the cross bar in both halves and missed a penalty.
Salgaocar started on a bright note and came close in the opening sixty seconds, when Milagres Gonsalves shot was saved by the Sporting Goa custodian and Marcus Mascarenhas’ follow up flew over the cross bar.
Nine minutes before the break, Salgaocar’s Marcus saw his effort cleared off the goal line, while Augustin’s rebound cannoned back of the cross bar.
Deep into injury time of the first half Valerio Rodrigues sent in a lofted ball to the back post and Juan Pena marvelously controlled before putting Sporting Goa ahead.
Five minutes into the second half, Sporting Goa’s Ogba kalu played in Victorino Fernandes and he laid the ball on for Dawson Fernandes who took the ball in his stride before placing the ball into the back of the net.
In the 52nd minute, Salgaocar were awarded a penalty after the ball had clipped Pratesh Shirodkar on the hand when a short corner was quickly taken.
Salgaocar’s Rahul Kumar stepped up to take the spot kick, but unfortunately for him the ball was mishit and it flew wide of the goal.
In the 67th minute, Salgaocar’s Marcus saw his header come crashing back of the woodwork as he attempted to score from a Godfrey Silva corner.
In the 81st minute Josimar Da Silva pulled a goal back for Salgaocar, when his shot took an unfortunate deflection off the leg of a Sporting Goa defender and wrong footed the goalkeeper as it looped in slow motion in the air.
Despite Salgaocar’s constant attacks, the Flaming Oranje managed to hang on for victory. They will now play the winners of the second semi-final between Sesa Football Academy and Dempo. The final is scheduled for Monday.

Sporting Clube de Goa: Saurav Chakroborthy (gk), Keenan Almeida, Adil Khan, Clemente Joseph, Rovan Pereira (c), Valerio Rodrigues, Xavier Dias, Kalu Ogba, Pratesh Shirodkar, Juan Pena, Dawson Fernandes
Subs: (Victorino Fernandes in/ Xavier out ‘41), (Mackroy Peixote in/ Valerio out ‘69), (Freiman Peixote in/Juanfri out ’74)

Salgaocar: Vinay Singh (gk), Rosario Rodrigues, Augustin Fernandes, Rahul Kumar, Collin Abranches, Gilbert Oliveria, Rocus Lamare, Francis Fernandes, Brian Mascarenhas, Marcus Mascarenhas, Milagres Gonsalves
Subs: (Josimar Da Silva in/ Collin Abranches out ’51), (Godfrey Silva in/ Brian Mascarenhas out ‘59), (Beevan D’Mello in/ Marcus Mascarenhas out ’79)

Sporting Clube de Goa meet Salgaocar in Super Cup Semi-finals

GFA Super Cup Semi-finals

Sporting Clube de Goa will meet highly rated Goa Super League champions Salgaocar FC in Gfa’s Goa Super Cup Semi-final at Duler Stadium, Mapusa on Friday.

Apart from the Goa Super League title, Salgaocar has impressively added the Gfa Taca Goa U-20 trophy and Gfa U-14 title to their glittering cabinet this season.

Sporting Goa on the other hand will be hungry to stay on track for some Silverware after enjoying a very good spell in the second half of the season.

When the two clubs met in November in the Goa Pro League, Salgaocar triumphed 3-1, but since then the Flaming Oranje have turned the tables, defeating Salgaocar no less than three times.

The first was a 2-0 victory in the I-League in January, followed up by a 4-1 win in the Goa Super League in February and another 3-1 win in the I-League in March.

Sporting Goa also managed to finish the season in sixth place in the I-League, one place above Salgaocar.

The Duler Stadium has been a happy hunting ground for Sporting Goa, especially against the Goan clubs. Whether it continues only time will tell.

Photo: The Super Cup trophy which Sporting Clube de Goa last won in 2011.

AIFF officials visit Sporting Clube de Goa

India coach Wim Koervermans along with a delegation of top ranking AIFF officials, paid a visit to the Sporting Clube de Goa office and training ground to check on the progress the club has made in meeting the Indian Club Licensing criteria in Panjim, on Wednesday.
The club was assessed on five key areas, which included Sporting, Personnel and Administrative, Infrastructure, financial and Legal criteria. The documentation was sent earlier to the AIFF and the visits were carried out to enhance their assessment.
In the morning, Licensing manager Roma Khanna along with Indranil Das visited the club’s headquarters in Campal and interviewed the clubs staff. There was also an opportunity for both parties to exchange ideas and give feedback on further ways to professionalise Indian football.
In the afternoon it was the turn of respected India coach Wim and technical committee member Pushpargha Chattopadhyaya to visit the Sporting Goa training ground facilities at Don Bosco High School, Panjim.
Wim was ecstatic with joy when he saw the Infrastructure the club had built, which included the two training pitches and futsal ground. The clubhouse facilities was also inspected, which included changing rooms, managers room, canteen, medical room, board meeting room and games area.
The Dutch men spent time speaking to the Flaming Oranje coaches. He was particularly interested in the number of competitive games the junior teams were playing.
The charismatic coach also gave a few words of encouragement, to the Sporting Goa U-12, U-14, U-16, U-18 and U-20 players, which had assembled at the venue.
“If every I-League club president had the same vision than it would be great for Indian football. It’s easy, you have to have a plan and just do it,” reasoned Wim.

Sporting Clube de Goa qualify for Super Cup

GFA GOA PRO LEAGUE

Sporting Clube de Goa claimed the final Super Cup place which was up for grabs, after they drew 1-1 with Churchill Brothers Sports club in Gfa’s Super League at Duler stadium, Mapusa, on Tuesday. Sporting Goa led 1-0 at the interval.
Before the kick off, the Flaming Oranje team formed a guard of honour to pay their respect to Churchill Brothers for winning this season’s I-League.
Rovan Pereira had given Sporting Goa the lead in the 42nd minute, but with virtually the last kick of the game, substitute Amandeep Singh equalized for Churchill.
Sporting Goa came close after just ten minutes when Valerio Rodrigues split the opposition defence with a razor sharp pass, but Dawson Fernandes’ shot was easily dealt with by the Churchill goalkeeper.
The buzzing U-20 player Xaiver Dias came close from distance for the Panjim outfit and at the other end Jaison Valles kept the Sporting Goa custodian on his toes.
Three minutes before the break, Sporting Goa built the ball up well from the right side, before Ogba Kalu switched it across to Rovan Pereira who had quietly made his way forward from the left back position to hammer in the opener.
Midway through the second half, Churchill nearly equalized when the Sporting Goa goalkeeper made a mess of a clearance, but quickly made up for it by cutting out the danger.
Churchill continued to press forward with Ajay Singh dribbling forward and shooting, but the Sporting Goa goalkeeper pulled off a fine save to deny him.
Five minutes from time, Sporting Goa’s Pratesh Shirodkar played a short free kick across the 18 yard box, but Ogba Kalu’s strike simmered just over the cross bar.
Deep into injury time, Churchill punted a long free kick forward from their area, which was flicked on by Ajay and Amandeep kept his composure to roll it into the corner and equalize for Churchill.
With this result, Sporting Goa claimed the fourth spot in the GFA Super League with 22 points from thirteen matches to qualify for the Super Cup, at the expense of Churchill who finished their campaign in fifth position, narrowly missing out with 20 points from the same number of games.

Sporting Clube de Goa: Saurav Chakraborthy (gk), Charles Cardoz (U-20), Mathew Gonsalves (c), Keenan Almeida, Rovan Pereira, Xavier Dias (U-20), Kalu Ogba, Pratesh Shirodkar, Valerio Rodrigues, Seiya Sugishita, Dawson Fernandes
Subs: (Victorino Fernandes in/ Seiya out ’58), (Joyner Lourenco in/ Mathew out ’65), (Mackroy Peixote in/ Xavier out ’76)

Churchill Brothers: Melroy Fernandes (gk), Satish Singh, Bikramjit Singh, Jaison Vales, Sanjay Balmuchu, Raju Yumnaan, Bineesh Balan, Naveen Sudhakran, Xaivier Kumar, Elvis Barreto (U-20), Alesh Sawant (U-20)
Subs: (Amandeep Singh in/ Elvis out ‘h/t), (Ajay Singh in/ Bineesh Balan ‘63), (Biswajit Biswas in/ Jaison Vales out’75)

Sporting Clube de Goa and Churchill battle for Super Cup place

GFA GOA SUPER LEAGUE
Sporting Clube de Goa will go head to head with newly crowned I-League champions Churchill Brothers Sports Club in the final Goa Super League match at Duler Stadium, Mapusa on Tuesday.
Both teams are still in contention for the final Super Cup place as three spots have already been filled.
Salgaocar won the title with 29 points from thirteen matches, Sesa FA are second with 24 points followed by Dempo who also have 24 points from thirteen games.
Sporting Goa is currently on 21 points from twelve matches, while Churchill Brothers need to win as they are currently in fifth spot with 19 points, which makes this match all the more mouth watering.
When the clubs met in the first round of the Goa professional league, the Flaming Oranje ran out 2-0 winners, while in the I-League it was honours even as Churchill Brothers defeated Sporting Goa 8-4 at Fatorda, but in the return leg in front of a packed Duler crowd, Sporting Goa got their revenge with a solitary goal victory.

Salgaocar narrowly defeat Sporting Clube de Goa via tie-breaker

GFA U-14 All Goa runners-up

GFA U-14 LEAGUE

Salgaocar Sports Club edged out Sporting Clube de Goa 6-4 via the tie-breaker in Gfa’s U-14 All Goa final at Cansaulim ground, on Monday. The match was 1-1 at the end of regulation time.
Sporting Goa thoroughly deserved to be ahead when Eustace Fernandes popped up in the box to score in the 24th minute and make up for an earlier miss.
Several minutes later, the match was stopped by the referee momentarily, as smoke from a neighboring garden began to cover the field of play.
Four minutes before the breather, Salgaocar found the equalizer after Shawn Pais did well to steer home a cross from the right.
The half time team talks were disrupted as both sides were asked to pose along with the winner’s trophy, through the request of a photographer who was not able to be present till the end of the game.
Once the second half finally got going, it was the Flaming Oranje Juniors who looked in control. Dwayne Britto’s free kick picked out Dhiraj Chouhan, but his volley flew just wide.
In the closing stages, Clive Monteiro’s shot from distance went whiskers past the Salgaocar goal.
In the penalty shootout, Melbern Pereira, Lewin D’Mello, Shawn Pais, Jason Fernandes and Jude Cardozo successfully converted for Salgaocar. Chandan Gupta, AAryan Gonsalves and Glevito Miranda netted for Sporting Goa, while Dhiraj’s attempt was saved.
The Salgaocar players led by their coach sportingly came and wished the Sporting Goa players after the match.