MARGAO
It was a day worth remembering for Salgaocar FC as they commemorated 25 years of their epic Federation Cup victory over East Bengal at Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata.
Salgaocar held a grand reunion of players along with the management. A number of celebrated legends like Derrick Pereira, Savio Madeira, Lector Mascarenhas, Bruno Coutinho, Roberto Fernandes, Roy Baretto, Camilo Gonsalves, Gasper Crasto, Ignatious Dias, Brahamanand Sankhwalkar, etc, attended the event alongside Shivanand Salgaocar, the club president, and Swati Salgaocar, chairperson of club's youth development.
One of the champions from '97 Federation Cup win, Gasper Crasto released his book 'Migrate Goa' at the hands of Shivanand Salgaocar, accompanied by strike partners Bruno Coutinho, Roy Barreto and Gasper's wife Esparansa. Later, Robert Fernandes, Gasper Crasto and Esparansa entertained the gathering with some medley of songs.
Watched by a record 1,20,000 spectators, Bruno Coutinho silenced the stadium with his golden goal to give Salgoacar a 2-1 win in the final of the Federation Cup on July 20, 1997. The teams were locked 1-1 at the end of regulation time.
In the second half of extra time, Jules Alberto took a shot at the goal after playing a wall pass with Gasper Crasto. East Bengal’s Kenyan goalkeeper Azanade palmed it away, but only as far as Savio Medeira some 30 yards away. Savio passed to an unmarked Bruno on top of the box, whose bullet-like shot pierced Azande’s defence.
In the semifinal, Salgaocar had defeated the previous edition's runners-up Dempo SC by a solitary goal scored by Bruno Coutinho. In the other semifinal, Bhaichung Bhutia had scored a hat-trick against a Chima Okerie led Mohun Bagan for East Bengal’s fourth consecutive final.
It had rained on the eve of the final match which prevented training outdoors. The team had to sweat it out at the hotel itself. On the morning of the match, at the team meeting, the instructions from head coach TK Chathuni, assistant coach Norbert Gonsalves, and team manager late Leopold Fernandes were clear as the day: "Tame the Bengal Tiger, and ride on it – by playing a game Goans and Salgaocar are known to play – attacking football.”
With the security and police escort from the hotel at Park Street in the heart of Kolkata to the Salt Lake (Yuba Bharati Krirangan) Stadium – some 9 kms away, Bengali fans screamed from all around the team bus: 'Amar maraba, tumi hare yabe' (We will beat you; you will lose).
The roar in the stadium was deafening. Everybody expected one result: A win for East Bengal. But a solid team performance along with the individual brilliance of Bruno Coutinho saw Salgaocar lift the Federation Cup under captain Franky Barreto with the final score of 2-1. The memories from the City of Joy will live till the end of time.
TEAMS: Salgaocar FC - Juje Siddi (goalkeeper), Seby Coelho, Franky Barreto (captain), Roberto Fernandes, Roque Pereira, S. Venkatesh, Jules Alberto, Savio Medeira, Domingos Vaz, Bruno Coutinho, Jude Odegah, Gasper Crasto, Sanaton Singh; Coach: TK Chathunni; East Bengal - Azande Abulista (goalkeeper), Ilyas Pasha, Naushad Moosa, Sammy Omollo, Amitabha Chanda, Abdul Sadique, Tushar Rakshit (captain), Sankarlal Chakraborty, Somatai Saiza, Bhaichung Bhutia, Nazimul Haq, Falguni Dutta, Shamsi Reza; Coach: Manoranjan Bhattacharya.
