PANAJI
When Dempo SC technical director Katz Naidoo was reveiwing the performance of the Kolkata-bound under-13 boys set for the AIFF Youth League, the veteran South African with Indian-origin, made a promise to Chairman Shrinivas Dempo that the youngsters are ‘in it to win it’. This was the confidence-boosting message transmitted by Dempo to the U-13 squad during the send-off address at the group head office here on Thursday.
The 23-member Dempo SC U-13 squad, who topped the group after scoring a whopping 38 goals while conceding just 2, will leave for Kolkata on Friday for the U-13 Youth League where they face Md Sporting boys on Sunday. The finals are scheduled for May 8. Two other teams in Dempo’s group, are yet to be confirmed.
“All of you have done us proud by qualifying for the play-offs. There is no option but to play with your heart and full passion, dedication and make Goa proud apart from making Dempos proud, because somewhere down the line, Goa has to reaffirm its position in the country as the footballing state. A lot of money is spent by the Govt and the private sector, particularly on the youth development front,” said Dempo addressing the squad seated in the audience.
“You have to focus, go with a clear mind. Do your best and come back with laurels for the state of Goa. It is time now to show your talent and this U-13 playoffs have given you a wonderful opportunity not only to excel in the competition but also to go ahead on the path of a football career. Last year all of us saw how the best U-17 teams perform at the World Cup. It was hard to realise these were under-17 boys, it (their performance) was almost to the tune of senior teams. There is Samir Naik (First-team coach) here, I would like you to defeat his team one day. That is the kind of passion that you should have. Nothing is impossible. You need to build that kind of training in the mind that will take you up there,” emphasised the Dempo SC president.
Katz Naidoo praised the boys for following the mantra wholeheartedly. “We are going to go there and win. The kind of influence we have put on the boys, gives them the winning mentality. We have a simple mantra - Keep ball possession and do not let them score “ and this has worked for the boys from the first day,” said the former GFDC technical director, who hailed the support staff comprising Remus Gomes (coach), Vaman Chari (assistant-coach) Jesus De Souza (manager) and Aaron Rodrigues (physio).
The squad
Aman Kumar, Asmon Viegas, Atmaram Jadhav, Dwayne Neto, Myrick Hilario, Parajay Gawde, Rajan Kumar, Richon Oliveira, Rohit Shirodkar, Rollan Pereira, Sail Parulekar, Sairon Albuquerque, Shameek Vas, Shenoy Colaco, Sherwin Abranches, Shreyas Naik, Shivam Pandey, Tarak Kandolkar. Coach: Remus Gomes, Asst-Coach: Vaman Chari, Manager: Jesus De Souza, Physio: Aaron Rodrigues.
Our academy model validated: Dempo
PANAJI: Dempo Sports Club’s football academy is already producing the desired results as most of the players in their U-13 squad for AIFF Youth League play-offs, come from this ambitious project at Ella-Old Goa.
“That validates the model. If you really focus, eat-drink-breathe football, you boys can do well,” said club boss Shrinivas Dempo, who had launched the residential academy’s first phase in November 2017. “This year was driven fully by performance as we did not charge any fees for the boys. It was fully funded by the management. And according to the performance reports drawn by technical director Katz Naidoo, most of them have done well,” asserted Dempo. Updating on the expansion plans for the academy, Dempo revealed: “While the boys are currently into hired accommodation close by, post-monsoon the construction of the residential block within the campus will begin. In 2019, we will be ready with most of the facilities in place including own accommodation with associated features. After that, we are going to look at an artificial turf ground. The game plan is to have at least two grounds.”
The Dempo academy team was last week crowned champions of the GFA U-14 League.
