Dear Sports Editor We should be grateful if you would kindly publish the article below in your esteemed paper.
Thanking You Yours sincerely ALMOE, ST MARYS TOP IN EXPAT LEAGUE ZYCO, DIVAR IN GOALESS DRAW St Marys Football team led by Goalkeeper Denzil Austin retained top spot in the First UAE Indian Expat Football League played at the Dubai Club for Special Sports. A total of sixteen top Indian teams are participating in the league organized by Gulf International Promotions Dubai. The League is sponsored by Gulf Eternit Industries as Title sponsors and co-sponsored by Future Pipe Industries, Nike, Sun & Sand, Lipton, Pehla, Firstnet, Al Awael, Tiffany, Masafi, Al Rawabi. Surprise leaders St Marys defeated second placed Siolim United by two goals to nil in a fast paced game. Hardworking Keegan D'Costa opened the scoring for the St Marys lads with a well taken shot in the tenth minute. Joshua D'Sa consolidated the lead in the fifteenth minute after receiving a good pass from Leon Almeida. St Marys Roy Das was a constant threat for the Siolim citadel. Siolim were complacent and paid the price. Although a better team poor finishing let them down. John Sequeira, Innocent Menezes and Jovito D'Souza had a good game for the Siolim team but could not avoid the defeat. With the defeat Siolim United dropped down to fifth spot. Almoe Football team led by Sheldon Buthelo were in top form chalking out two big victories on the night. In the first match Almoe got the better of high flying Emirates Flight Catering by three goals to one. Playing fast attacking soccer striker George Baretto put the Catering team in the lead with an opportunist strike in the third minute. Stunned by the goal the Almoe lads hit back with Franklin Ferns scoring in the sixth minute to level the scores. The teams were equal at half time. It was a different story after the break. Almoe came back with all guns blazing which took the catering lads by surprise. Two quick goals by Franklin Ferns and Rejo Abraham gave the Almoe lads a comfortable lead. Almoe hung on to the lead and emerged 3-1 winners. The Catering lads Savio Soares, Thomas Dias and Manuel Fernandes gave a good account of themselves. In the second game of the night for Almoe the pulled out all stops to humble Dragon Starz 4- 0. This time it was Suresh Pereira who scored two classic goals to give his team a 2-0 lead at half time. On resumption the Dragon Starz put up a strong resistance with Ganesh Thampi, Melvin Chandy and Shareef Abdul Azeez playing their hearts out. The Almoe lads were in no mood to let the game slip and added two more goals in the run of play through Franklin Ferns and Sachin Shivram. Almoe occupy second spot while Dragon All Starz are in fifteenth position. Two title contenders Zyco Dubai and Vaxim Divar played out a dull draw to share the spoils. Zyco Captain Rajath and Abubacker played a stellar role for the team but good defending by Diwars Erbrito Fortes, Randell Pereira and Ashok Saterdkar prevented the Zyco team from scoring. Divars Russel Rodrigues and Orlando Viegas did make a couple of attempts but the Zyco Goalkeeper Nowshad was upto to the standard making two good saves. Divar are in seventh position while Zyco are in eleventh position. Emirates Flight Catering bounced back from their earlier defeat to shock Phoenix Loutolim by two goals to nil. Joe D'Silva was in top form and opened the scoring for the Emirates lads scoring from close range in the eighth minute. Christopher Dias, Captain Renato Fernandes and Baptist D'Souza played well for the Loutolim team but could not convert their superiority into goals. However the Catering team had other ideas and Sebyton Colaco pounced on a defensive lapse to score the second goal for his team to emerge two nil winners. Emirates Flight Catering climbed to third Position while Loutolim led by Manager Marquees received a walkover from SFX Old Goa who failed to turn up for their game. Loutolim are in sixth position. Strong contenders Varca Football Club were held to a goalless draw by a determined Zuari FC. Franky Baretto, Shane Thomas, Lenin Fernandes and Goalkeeper Jose Manuel were in good form but could not convert their form into goals. Zuari on the other hand played combined soccer and went close on several occasions but poor finishing let them down. Lynton D'Souza, Avinash Pinheiro and Savio Cardozo were the stalwarts for the Zuari tem. Varca are in tenth position while Zuari lie in twelfth place. In an exciting game between two attacking teams Cansaulim FC and Copy Corner FC the former emerged a 1-0 winner. Both teams were equally balanced with Benit D'Souza, Brian Almeida and Remedios Furtado playing fast attacking soccer for the Cansaulim team. Subair M , Manoj Ganesh and Abdul Salam were the heart of the Copy Corner team and played their best. However no goals were forthcoming with both the keepers in good form. Thomas Philip of Copy Corner and Michael Fernandes of Cansaulim both made some good saves. Agnelo Fernandes of Cansaulim broke the deadlock in the fourteenth minute to score what turned out to be the winner. With the victory Cansaulim climbed to fourth position while Copy Corner slipped to eighth position. Strong Zyco Dubai played out a second goaless draw of the night when they were surprisingly held by fourteenth placed St Anthony. Babu Job, Abdul Salam and Rajath did their best to penetrate the St Anthony Defence but rock solid defending by Sydney Lemos, Deril Carvalho and Trevlyn Rodrigues enabled St Anthony to hold on to a draw and a precious point. Desert Cubs led by Roger Kottor played their hearts out to hold a strong Dragon All Starz to a goaless draw. Mammen George, Shaun D'souza and Rajiv Jose were instrumental in Desert Cubs draw. Nestor D'Souza, Melvyn Chandy and Mohammed Fazdly did their best for the Dragons but could not wrest the initiative. Desert Cubs are in thirteenth position while Dragon All Starz are in fifteenth position. In a clash of titans old rivals Varca FC and Vaxim Divar played out an exciting draw. Although both teams failed to find the net there were many missed opportunities. Randell Pereira, Orlando Viegas and Joanas D'souza played well for the Divar team but were either stopped by the Varca defence marshaled by Nishanth Fernandes and Arnold Noronha or Jose Manuel in goal brought off some good and timely saves. Varca too had their moments when captain Franky Baretto and Shane Thomas raided the Divar goal only to find Orlando Viegas and Derrick D'Souza standing in their way. In the last game of the night new entrants Dubai Republicans shocked Zuari FC by two goals to one. An own goal by Adrian Sequeira gave the Republicans a shock lead in the tenth minute. This gave the lads a much needed confidence and the attacked at will. The Zuari defence led by Ashton D'Souza and Manuel Rodrigues withstood the pressure until half time. In the second have hardworking Ashton took advantage of a defensive lapse to score from close range and draw level for the Zuari team. Both teams tried their best to score the winner with Sunny Gabriel scoring in the dying minutes to give the Republicans a well deserved victory. Gordon D'Silva, Sunny Gabriel and Lloyd Rodrigues played well for the Republicans while Lynton D'Souza, Avinash Pinheiro and Ashton d'Souza were outstanding for the Zuari team. The league continues on Wednesday 26 April at 8.30pm with the following games scheduled to be played at the Dubai Club for Special Sports: COPY CORNER SPORTING VS DRAGON ALL STARZ ST MARYS BOYS VS ZYCO DUBAI DESERT CUBS VS EMIRATES FLIGHT CATERING ST ANTHONYS VS VARCA FC ALMOE VS SFX OLD GOA DUBAI REPUBLICANS VS VAXIM DIVAR PHOENIX LOUTOLIM VS SIOLIM UNITED CANSAULIM VS ZUARI FC COPY CORNER SPORTING VS SFX OLD GOA DUBAI REPUBLICANS VS ST MARYS BOYS DESERT CUBS VS SIOLIM UNITED CANSAULIM VS ST ANTHONY Inayat Elahi Gulf International Promotions _____________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. Goanet mailing list (Goanet@goanet.org)