-------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Add your name to the CLEAN GOA INITIATIVE | | | | by visiting this link and following the instructions therein | | | | http://shire.symonds.net/pipermail/goanet/2005-October/033926.html | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wesley Coutinho
By Armstrong Augusto Vaz He has the drive, the potential, the talent and the raw energy to take him far but here he finds himself having rubbed the authorities the wrong way a year ago. Raia Sporting Club striker, Wesley coutinho is kicking his legs around in frustration of being so near yet so far when it came to finding a place in the Goa squad. Welseys story is an untold story. A twenty year-old having rubbed the powers on the wrong side last year. Two "Man of the Match" awards in the Goa Professional League and yet no spot on the Goa squad is what Wesley is ruing about. Wesleys case got murkier with Coach Mauricio having many quality strikers to choose from. The young man from Cuncolim however was called once before the team was set to leave and then told that he was not in the squad after he played a practice match for the Goa probables against Salgaocar. The justification given to him is that if he plays in the Santosh trophy he will not have a chance to play in the under-21 championship. Strange justification! Who can guarantee that he will be in form and possess adequate fitness levels in 4-5 months from now. But then Indian football officials have their own ways and fancies of functioning and the current behavoiur epitomizes the strange way of handling talent. You have to give a player his due when he is in form and Wesley is in form - no second thoughts about that. When you score a classic goal picking up the ball from the center line and forcing your way through the entire Salgoacar mid field, defense and then beating Sangram Mukerjee under the goal certainly the boy has class and mental attitude to take on the top footballers of the country. Wesley did this at Duler grounds, Mapusa against Salgaocar in an encounter of the Goa Professional League. Last season he played truant with the Goa Under-20 team instead choosing to play inter village football for Cuncolim and with several phone calls from the authorities being ignored. The authorities were left fumbling at the attitude of the player. It was a teenager not taking his football seriously but just as a past time. Even at the start of the season he was thrown between choosing to emigrate to Dubai for work or follow his love of football. Add to it the family pressures, Wesley was a confused young man. He promised Dempo SC, Sporting Clube and Churchill Bros that he will turn up for them but ditched all the three. He did not have his destiny in his hands but the pressure of family dictating his football decisions. Finally football was the winner with Anthony Pango and company convincing him to play for Raia Sporting Club and the rest they say is history. The official word is that he has been held back for the under-21 team. But then punitive action was to be taken against Wesley last season but was not taken and now it was the right time for the authorities to strike back at Wesley with their own game. The Raia Sporting Club president and Wesley know the entire episode of Wesley being held back for no football reasons from the Santosh trophy. If the authorities maintain a vengeful attitude on account of events that occured last year, then the game of football would suffer and talent like Wesley would be lost forever from this game. Certainly Wesley deserved a better deal but then it is his own doing and his wayward teenage behaviour which led him to slip-up. Hopefully the striker will take this bitter experience as part of his learning experience and turn a new leaf in his football career. A football career which is staring in his face with Salgaocar SC, Churchill Bros, Fransa Pax FC and Air India - all eager to take on this player on loan for the national football league. Till then we wish him all the luck and that he continue his task of accomplishing goals and silencing his critics in the best way he can and that is more and more goals from his shots and accurate headers. (ENDS)
