BASIL SYLVESTER PINTO
MARGAO
Helmed by Romanian Petre Gigiu and a good 10-day pre-season camp apart from two fine-tuning warm-up matches in recent weeks against FC Pune City and FC Goa, Churchill Brothers FC are quietly confident of putting a good show as they make their lone State representation for their forthcoming I-League campaign.
“I am here with good reasons. I think we have a good team with a well-backed management,” the head coach stated at a press briefing on Thursday.
But he did admit that he had a few on field problems due to injury or non-availability of his players.
“I have had some players injured at different times like Dawda Ceesay (forward), Willis Plaza (forward) and Wayne Vaz (defender). Our midfielder, Khalid Aucho also was absent for two weeks as he was away with his national side in Uganda. For these reasons, at the moment we are not as organized but we will be sooner than later,” he disclosed.
He took heart in the Red Machine’s performances at the recent friendlies against ISL teams, FC Pune City (lost 1-2) and FC Goa (won 2-1), which his sides had mixed results against. Incidentally, their influential striker and captain Willis Plaza, a former East Bengal forward was the lone goal scorer for his side in both the matches.
“Our last two friendlies, led me to think that we can achieve good results especially that we are going outside to start our campaign with three games (vs Minerva on Oct 28, vs Chennai City on Nov 1, vs Real Kashmir on Nov 6). I have confidence in our players and I hope we can return with maximum points (nine). It is important to start the league well and also for the team to play good football,” Gigiu asserted.
Valanka Alemao, CEO, Churchill Brothers FC said, “The side has a lot of local talent representation. It takes everyone to make a good team. We believe it is a lot of hard-work, passion and undying dedication to be consistent in the I-League. Right now, we have five foreign players registered apart from the Goan and Indian talent. Our management is working hard towards the success of the team.”
In response to a question put forth by this reporter, she said that the sixth foreign player signing is a decision yet to be taken.
“When we do decide to sign the sixth and last overseas player, we will bolster our strike force because we have a good defense and midfield too,” she said.
Meanwhile, Churchill Alemao, patron of the club maintained that his family-run club is proud to have at least 80 per cent Goan talent within the team. Speaking further, he said that the side played a lot of practice games and gave good results which made him feel that Churchill Brothers stood a bright chance to win the I-League in possibly its last season.
While admitting last season, there were different constraints that affected his team’s preparations and ensuing performances, he said this season the story is vastly different. “We have a pool of 56 players between the Goa Professional League and the I-League. As such, we will not have worries of falling short of players,” he pointed out.
Apart from that, he revealed at the age-group levels “ U-14, U-16, U-18, they have around 300 registered players apart from their squad in the Women’s League.
The passionate football fan and owner of the Club appealed to the Goans to support the Red Machines in large numbers and also said that their home matches starting from November 15 against Shillong Lajong will
most likely take place in Bambolim, if not at Tilak Maidan, Vasco.
Speaking on behalf of his team, captain Willis Plaza said that playing their first home game away makes it one of the most important games in the I-League and assured that his side will put their heart and soul against the defending champions (Minerva Punjab) to win the game.
Wayne Vaz, a defender who came on loan from FC Pune City last season, continues to be on the rolls with Red Machines for another season and is a player to watch out for. Speaking to The Goan, the Goan player compared the performance of his side last season that finished poorly at ninth to the expectations of the unit assembled this year.
“We had our ups and downs last season. We were not set well, but in due course, had a stretch of games where we won five on the bounce. Then we were dealt with injuries that made the side fall apart. For this season, we have been training for the last two months. We are confident that we will open our campaign away against Minerva Punjab on Sunday with a win. This I can say for sure because our confidence is very high after we almost beat FC Pune City in Old Goa last month and managed to defeat FC Goa last week,” said the 24-year-old before signing off.
A 21-member squad left the State on Thursday for their first away match against defending champions, Minerva Punjab that will be played on October 28. The I-League team has Petre Gigiu as head
coach, with Mario Soares as his assistant while Alfred Fernandes will serve as technical coach. In the Goa Pro League, Norbert Gonsalves will helm the side with Severino Fernandes as his deputy.
