Levino Dias Goa's most suceesful Age group till date did not find a place in the coaches selected for training under the Portuguese offcials.
here is a profile of the pint sized dynamo levino dias By armstrong vaz A hosts of trophies and mementoes depicting football scenes in various shapes and sizes greets visitors to the house of Football coach Levino Dias. There is no harm in saying that Levino is one such footballer who dreams football ,lives football and can never disassociate their association with the game through out their life. One such rare breed of footballer from the late 50�s , 60 and 70�s is Cuncolim based levino Dias. Levino started his football career with his school team St paul HS Belgaum. A Sterling performance in the inter school tournament found levino moving a few notches to be in the Belgaum district team in 1959. That was the start of the football career which took him to then Mumbai and back to very he originally belonged - Goa. Dias donned colours for the state team thrice in the nationals at Guhawati and in Kerala 1964 and 1965. he also missed the bus to the 1963 nationals on account of injury. He in jured himself a couple days as the team was scheduled to leave for the nationals. The former electricity employee also represented the State civil services team on three occasions and the distinction of being picked up for the all India team once. He along with Joao D�Mello and Aboo were the other goans in the squad. He also captained the civil services once and one of the member of the victorious squad wherein goan civil services team where joint winners in 1964. The team which was to make the trip to Africa failed to take off on account of the Indo Pak conflict in 1972. Thus dias missed out on the opportunity to display his skills in the African country. Levino after his playing days has been the most successful Age group coach till date bringing in laurels which no state coach has been able to do in the age group tournaments. Started his coaching career with panvel in 1974, he has so far coached the sub junior squad on nine occasions winners twice runners up � twice and third place � thrice He also coached the Goa junior squad in 1999, while his association with the women�s team was in 1978 when goa girls finished runners up. He had also beeen associated with the womens team of AVC Eves. AVC eves which won the Parkhot trophy for four years in succession. His coaching career has taken him to different clubs in the state from panvel sc, Sao Jose De Areal sc, ambelim Sc . in his home village he started his coaching simultaneously while coaching other clubs and state teams. Dias has been a father figure in cuncolim football starting from the 70�s and has been associated with the cuncolim union senior team. Dias now is concentrating on the age groups from Cuncolim starting from the under 12 and moving to the under 14, under 16 and under 18 teams. The rise of Cuncolim in inter village football has Levino playing a small byt significant role over the last ten � fifteen years. His mantra for success has been to rely on the basics of football at a very young age. His strong points is he is able to spot out technical flaws in the young players. He derives success from correcting the technical faults in the young players and show his determination in ironing out the faults. He derives satisfaction when his wards are able to gain perfection. In Goa levino first played for don Bosco oratory panjim 1961, earlier in mubai he played for Luizitanhs in 1960 He then moved to Goa wherein he donned colurs for Academica in 1962 to 66 and then moved to St. Inez from 1967 and then again moving to Sesa goa in 1968. He has donned colours in the Durand cup for Margao cricket club, as players from any club could play for any club in out station tournament. He also donned colours in the Rovers cup for panvel sc and Sesa Goa. The next few years saw Levino Dias donning colours for Panvel sports club and finished his career with the same club. Here he captained the squad for four years and was playing as a player cum Assistant coach under coach Joao D'Mello. Recaaling his years as coach and player he gone memory lane adding that we had no coach or system.� We never had coaches then. We used to rely on guidance from our seniors sitting on the bench. Levino indeed was inspired by his other brothers Luizinho and Leonindo who set the initial fire burning in him. The duminutive footballer made up for his short stature with deternination and some robust ball snatching and intelligent bod y feints to keep the rival players at bay. It was ineed a treat top watch him on the side lines. He was dead ball exponent especially the flag kicks. I scored many a goal with my dipping flag kicks he recalls. During our times games could be won on the individual brilliance of one player or a couple of players now the game has improved a lot he recalls . Now teams rely more on team play he adds. Therer were no set play of formations but the game was played at an aggressive pace he recalls. Looking back at trhe game today he analysies that the game has become a huge return for the players and praises the Goan players for being able to handle the pressure situation admirably. He also appreciates the hard work put in by the current breed of players but more needs to be done to achieve greater heights. On Indian football reaching great heights he suggests that a football movement should start in ev ery nook and corner of the country and in every school of the country. We also need 50-100 dedicated people like Alberto Colaco to take the movement across the length and breadth of the country. We need the support of many people inh building a strong and vibrant Indian football a dream which all of us cherish as footballers and as coaches of this diverse country he added while concluding. In 1974 he was elevated as chief coach after D'Mello moved to Salgoacar as chief coach. *********************************************************************** * G * O * A * N * E * T *** C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S * *********************************************************************** Greet your loved ones in Goa with flowers! http://www.goa-world.com/goa/expressions/ EXPRESSIONS - The Flower Shop. World famous all over Goa! ***********************************************************************
