Unavailability of full squad disappoints coach Neto

Francisco Neto, the Portuguese coach who has been entrusted with the responsibility of leading the Goa-India football team at Lusofonia Games 2014, is disappointed that he has not yet got to work with the whole squad selected by him on the training field.

The Goa Football Association (GFA) was due to announce the final 20-member Goa-India squad for the Games on Tuesday but has delayed declaring the names of the players as Sporting Clube de Goa have not released two of their players — Mauvin Borges and Rowlin Borges — for the Lusofonia football team’s training camp, which is being conducted by Neto. Sporting Clube coach Oscar Bruzon is reluctant to release both the players as his team is preparing for the January 14-26 Federation Cup, which clashes with the Lusofonia Games, which will be held from January 18 to 29.

Some other Goan I-League clubs have also not released their players for the camp, but both Mauvin and Rowlin are supposed to be key members of Neto’s squad at the Games where they will face stiff competition from other more powerful Lusophone teams.

“The GFA has sent letters to all the clubs requesting them to release the players that Neto has asked for. We expect all these players to join the training camp soon. Once we have all the players at the camp, GFA president Shrinivas Dempo will announce the squad at a press briefing,” GFA secretary Adlear D’Cruz told ‘The Navhind Times’ on Wednesday.

After training for the last few days at the Duler stadium, the camp will be moved to Sesa Football Academy ground at Sirsaim. According to a source in the GFA, both Mauvin and Rowlin are likely to join the camp at Sirsaim on Thursday. Sporting Clube, on the other hand, have already started their training for the Federation Cup at Don Bosco ground in the city from Tuesday, monitored by their physios Brian D’Costa and Abhinandan Chatterjee.

Meanwhile, Goa-India team manager Sanjiv Nagvenkar has said that he expects the announcement of the squad to be made by January 3.

“The players selected by Neto who have not joined the Lusofonia training camp yet, will surely join the training at Sirsaim in a day or two. We should be able to announce the squad by January 3,” Nagvenkar said. 

Neto had drawn up his Lusofonia plans by picking 24 players, including two outstation players. The players, who have been training in morning and evening sessions under the Portuguese coach, were given a break to celebrate New Year but the squad will return to training at Sirsaim on Thursday. 

Although Nagvenkar did not reveal the names of the outstation players, he said that both of them are defenders. That means the team’s midfield and the forwardline will comprise of all Goan players.  

“Different combinations are being worked out so that we can field a well-balanced team 

that can compete with the higher ranked teams at the Games. Neto has so far done a fine job with this group of youngsters. We are confident that this team will perform well at the Games,” Nagvenkar said.