The Hindu : Sport / Football : Colaco all praise for his boys

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 27, 2005

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Sport - Football

Colaco all praise for his boys

P. K. Ajith Kumar

KOZHIKODE: When Dempo Sports Club lost its penultimate match in the National Football League to East Bengal in Kolkata on May 16, Armando Colaco thought it was the end of the world.

"I thought it was all over,'' the Dempo coach told The Hindu on Thursday. ``I thought there was no chance for us to win the NFL.''

Five days later though, on a summer afternoon, when East Bengal and Sporting Clube de Goa suffered stunning losses, Dempo kept its date with destiny, as it defeated Tollygunge Agragami and emerged champion in the ninth edition of the premier football league.

What a triumph it was for Dempo. The man who plotted it wants to play down his role, though. ``My boys deserve the full credit,'' says Armando, who reached here with the team for Saturday's Super Cup.

``And Cristiano Junior?''

"You know, before his tragic death on the field in Bangalore, Junior used to tell the boys that we could win the NFL,'' says the former Indian half-back. ``I'm sure he must be watching us from somewhere up above. We won this title for him. He wasn't just a fine player; he was a great person as well. Very down-to-earth and eager to help others always. I've a learned a lot from him, about football and Brazil. He'd in fact wanted to take me to Sao Paulo."

That Dempo won its maiden NFL title without Junior, the team's leading scorer in the previous season, is remarkable. ``This season, every single player contributed, including those who sat on the bench,'' says the proud coach who moulded the side, which was in the second division of the NFL when he took over five years ago. ``I must say that I got excellent support from our back-up staff and the team's management.''

Armando, who played for Dempo from 1976 to 1985, admits he wasn't very sure last Saturday that his team would emerge victorious. ``I was just hoping that the other two games would produce results suitable to us. But strangely enough, I had this feeling that we would be the champion this year; it wasn't based on any logic, but I just thought so and told it to my players.''

Armando, who also doubles up as the team's secretary, says the close race for the title this year augurs well for the future of Indian football. "It's unfortunate that a good team like SBT is relegated. I was impressed with the way attacked right through. Theirs would be a formidable side if they could get a couple of good foreign players.''

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