MARGAO
A host of decisions from the match officials went against Goa as they went down fighting to arch rivals Kerala 7-5 in the Beach Soccer final of the National Games, at Colva beach, on Wednesday.
Coach Bruno Coutinho was not one who would cry over spilt milk; as a player, he saw a lot of decisions as the ones his players encountered in the final. “Those decisions are part and parcel of the game. We have to take them in our stride and not allow ourselves to be affected,” he reasoned.
“We gave everything in the game and lost, congratulations to the winning team Kerala, our boys gave a splendid performance throughout the championship,” added the former India captain.
Bruno foresees a bright future for beach soccer in Goa and advised the All India Football Federation to allot more beach soccer events to Goa. “Yes, the crowd has been fantastic and Goa should have more such beach soccer events. The Goan crowd love to see beach soccer and AIFF and Goa Football Association should plan more events like these in Goa,” added the Calangute-born tactician.
Bruno who has also represented the country in beach soccer said India should take part in more international events and he was confident that with Kalyan Chaubey at the helm of affairs at AIFF, things are moving in the right direction. “We (India) recently participated in the AFC Futsal qualifiers and hopefully we will take part in more international tournaments,” added Bruno.
On Wednesday, at Colva Beach before a packed house of fans, many who were standing saw Kerala take an early lead with captain Musheer scoring in the second minute. Goa bounced back with three goals from Pedro Gonsalves to take a 3-1 lead.
But in beach soccer, goals come in a rush or on some occasions the goals dry up. Kerala were not ready to throw in the towel very early in the match and fought back to draw level with goals from Unais and Umarul Mukhatar to tie the scores at 5-5.
Kerala caught the hosts off guard with a goal by Ali Akbar and with Goa going all out to secure an equaliser, Muhseer TKB scored to put the issue beyond doubt to secure the gold medal.
