the goan I network
PANAJI
Defending champions Goa will lock horns with Maharashtra in the men's finals, while the State women's team will take on Karnataka in the women's title clash at the 4th Senior National Futsal Championship, organised by Futsal Association of Goa (FAG) under the aegis of Futsal Association of India (FAI), played at Peddem Sports Complex, Mapusa, on Monday.
While Goan men scored a resounding 8-3 win over Karnataka, Maharashtra edged past Mizoram 2-0 in the second semi-final. D Singh scored from the spot to give Maharashtra the lead in the much anticipated game. But nothing seemed to be working for the Mizoram team as Vishal Magle added another to give the Maharashtra a well deserved two-goal lead in the game.In the other semi-final of the day, Goa thumped Karnataka 8-3. After sneaking their way past Tamil Nadu in the quarterfinals 4-3 via tie-breaker, Goa got the game underway with an early goal courtesy of Michael Silva, who scored in the 2nd minute itself. The joy was though short-lived as Karnataka levelled in the 5th minute as Raj Kiran lobbed the ball in off Sridhar's pass.
The game intensified as Karnataka had a few potent attacks post the equaliser through Sridhar and he made no mistake to give his team a 2-1 lead in the 7th minute. But Goa equalised in the next minute through Fredsan Marshall whose powerful shot beat the keeper. Fredsan scored again for Goa in the 18th minute to give the hosts a 3-2 lead in the first half.
Moving into the second half, Karnataka found the equaliser through Arbhaz Khan. However Goa reclaimed the lead through Savio Fernandes in the 8th minute of the second half. The Goans then ran riot, scoring four goals in a span of 10 minutes. Hannlum Furtado scored two, while Fredsan and Lyndon Cardozo scored one each in the second half to seal the win.
In the women's semis, Karnataka secured a fluent 2-0 win over Mumbai while Goa trounced Madhya Pradesh 5-0. Sanjana lobbed the ball over to Lilly, who swiftly scored the first goal for Karnataka in the 11th minute of the second session. Sanjana netted again with a low shot in the nets to give her team a 2-0 lead in the dying minutes.
Earlier, Goa had an easy 5-0 win over Madhya Pradesh. The Goan girls went into the game as strong contenders and this was evident as they attacked from the start. Reema Noronha's shot on target was well saved by the MP keeper but she made no mistake to score in the next minute off a free kick. The next minute, Velanie Fernandes tipped the ball to Reema who added her second for the day.
Goa added another with Velanie Fernandes netting in a fine strike in the 10th minute. Moving over, the home side scored another through Velanie five minutes into the second half which gave Goa a comfortable 4-0 lead. Velanie completed her hat-trick to cap a wonderful performance, 5-0.
