Football fans in Goa were in for a rude shock in the week that went by. The State’s senior football team had a miserable outing at the prestigious senior national championship in Odisha and the knives were held out for the elected executive committee of the Goa Football Association (GFA) led by Dr Caetano Fernandes.
The team shockingly could not even win a single match and came home with ‘zero’ points from their outing, leading to former football stars, journalists and fans calling for drastic measures and a deep, meaningful introspection into the state of the State’s football affairs.
To be fair to the current lot of elected administrators manning the GFA affairs, they took over just a few months ago and are unfairly being held accountable for the debacle. As they say, Rome was not built in one day, and neither can in one day a destroyed Rome be re-built. But nonetheless, the new team is at the helm and has to take the blame on their shoulders, smell the coffee and pick up the pieces.
The GFA president’s reaction to the dismal Santosh Trophy performance, meanwhile seems to be filled with the right tone describing the debacle as “alarming”.
“There is no short cut to success. Goa needs to start turning the youth development and grassroots wheel again and young players need to start playing more games to develop,” was Fernandes’ reaction.
While it seems he has smelt the coffee right, Fernandes and his team will need more than mere words to brew a better coffee. They will be closely watched by all who eagerly desire ‘santosh’ after a decade of decadence in what was once a source of immense satisfaction for every Goan -- football.
