The Hindu : Sport / Football : Noushad Pari lands Fransa winner

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 29, 2004

Sport

Sport - Football

Noushad Pari lands Fransa winner

KOCHI, APRIL 28. They love to party all night. And much of the day too. And the fun-loving folks from Goa often harp on the adage `the more, the merrier'.

Well, there is a big Goan crowd in the current National Football League. Five of the premier division's 12 teams are from the tiny State. In Goa, football and fun often dance together. On Wednesday evening, Fransa FC served a delightful 1-0 victory over Titanium (Thiruvananthapuram) in the Second Division National League (Phase I, Group `C') at the Nehru Stadium here, and raised hopes of making the Goan bandwagon bigger at next season's premier division.

Noushad Pari, who hails from Areecode, near Kozhikode, scored the match-winner, which came at the fag end of the first half. And this factor made the goodly crowd leave the venue contented despite the Kerala's club's defeat.

The encounter was evenly contested and a lively one. Short passes ruled the day and Fransa boys, playing in front of their club president, Goan Sports and Tourism Minister Micky Pacheco, worked up some lovely patterns as they advanced with neat combination play.

With three foreign players — Brazilian forwards Ivan Fiel da Silva, Emerson da Silva and Nigerian medio Adewusi Tokumbo — in its ranks, many expected Fransa to win by a big margin. But Titanium, though many of its players found the ground a bit slippery, put up a spirited resistance.

The experienced midfielder Boniface was quite active this evening, intercepting passes and feeding Ebin Rose who had been a prolific shooter in the recent Thiruvananthapuram super division. But Ebin missed a few good chances, one header grazed the side netting and another sailed over. He received good support from his hunting partner in the frontline, captain T. Usman too. The Fransa custodian Juje Siddi also put up a stubborn wall, thwarting many a Titanium threat.

Fransa's crucial goal was the outcome of a combined move. Ival Fiel had been breaking into the Titanium defence quite frequently, with small wall passes with Emerson and Noushad Pari. But after a missing a few chances, he fed Emerson who was positioned near the end-line with a long one. And while the Titanium defence ran around in confusion, Emerson quickly relayed the ball to Noushad Pari who made no mistake.

Boosted by the goal, Fransa appeared sure and confident in the next session. But the session was also a story of close calls and missed chances by both teams. Marlang Ki Suting set up a lovely cross for Peter Pereira but his strong attempt was parried away by the Titanium goalkeeper Joby Joseph. Another shot by Fransa's Emerson rebounded off the crosspiece.

Towards the end, Titanium captain Usman and Boniface, after a nice one-two with his skipper, came close to finding the equaliser. But they had to return disappointed. — Our Sports Reporter

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