MARGAO: An ugly fight and crowd disruption marred the second pre-quarter-final of the Federation Cup between Fransa-Pax Football Club and Mohammedan Sporting on Friday. The match ended 2-1 in favour of the Goan club.
After the final 90 minutes, punctuated with injuries and rough tackles, the referee awarded five minutes of stoppage time, but the match turned ugly when Sporting captain Suley Musah head-butted Peter Rodrigues in front of Fransa post, in an attempt to get the goal. The Kolkata team was trailing 1-2.
The players from both sides rushed to the site. Zubair KP shoved the Fransa goalkeeper Mark Mascarenhas, who retaliated violently to punch and hit a couple of players. The referee sent off Mascarenhas and resumed play soon after. Crowd showed their disapproval against referee's decision by booing continuousy.
Meanwhile, Fransa held off with 10 men to move in to the quarters. As the teams waited to return to the dressing room, the crowd turned rowdy and booed the Sporting team. Fransa supporters hurled abuses at the visiting team and pelted the ground with water bottles. Musah soon after charged to attack the Fransa supporters in the stands, among them the Fransa president and State Agricultural Minister Mickey Pacheco. He was pulled back by his teammates and the police. This infuriated the crowd even further, who continued to hurl bottles.
Pacheco, however, was not happy with the referee's decision and said he would submit a complaint to the All-India Football Federation stating that Fransa will not take further part in the competition if no action is taking against the match referee A Arjunan.
Tempers cooled down only when Fransa players appealed to the crowd reminding them that they had, in fact, won the match.
Fransa join two other Goan clubs, Churchill Brothers and Sporting Clube de Goa, in the quarterfinals. Of the four home clubs on display till now, Dempo were the only one to make the exit, having lost 1-2 to HAL on the opening day. Goa has six teams in the competition. Salgaocar and Vasco take to the field on Saturday against Punjab Police and Mohan Bagan respectively.
(courtesy: DNA)
- Forwarded by www.goa-world.com
