COPY CORNER SPORTING OUTPLAY DRAGON ALL STARZ ALMOE SHOCK SFX OLD GOA - Indian Football League in Dubai
Copy Corner Sporting led by Rasheed outplayed Dragon All Starz 6-1 in the third week of the First UAE Indian Expat Football league organized by Gulf International Promotions Dubai. The sixteen-team league played at the Dubai Club for Special Sports is sponsored by Gulf Eternit Industries and co- sponsored by Firstnet, Pehla, Al Awael, Future Pipe Industries, Lipton, Masafi, Al Rawabi, Nike, Tiffany, and Sun and Sand Sports. Copy Corner went on the offensive from the word go and it was no surprise when Dileep opened the scoring in the fifth minute. Two minutes later Mohammed Kareem increased the lead. Riyaz who had a good game for the Copy Corner team made it three nil just before half time to give them a comfortable lead. On resumption the Dragon All Starz were a better lot with Melwyn Chandy, Siraj Udeen, Sahreef Abdul Azeez and Nestor Lopez playing their hearts out. Their hard work paid off with Melwyn finishing off after a good pass from Nestor to reduce the margin. This only inspired the Copy Corner team who scored three quick goals through Mohammed Kareem, Riaz Katti and Rashed K to round off a well deserved win. With the win Copy Corner climbed four places into fourth position while Dragon All Starz remain on fifteenth position. Eleventh Placed Zyco Dubai led by Goalkeeper Naushad K held a strong St Marys team to a 0-0 draw. The determined Zyco lads matched St Marys who started the day in top position in all departments of the game. Babu Job, K Riyaz and Manoj Athanikal played some good football to keep the St Marys team at bay. Vice Captain Keegan D'Costa, Roy Das, Gary Hasset and Brian Alphonso did their best to score but were held back by a stubborn Zyco defence. The teams had to finally settle for a draw and split the points. Almoe FC led by Sheldon Buthelo pulled out all stops to defeat a strong SFX Old Goa by two goals to nil. In fast paced game Evano Fernandes scored in the run of play in the sixth minute after playing a one two with Ashraf Syed. The teams tried for goals but were not successful and had to change ends with Almoe leading by a solitary goal. On resumption Old Goa striker Peter Fernandes missed a sitter and this cost his team as Suresh Pereira increased Almoe lead in the fifteenth minute with a good strike off a ball from Suresh Pereira. Piedade Fernandes, Henry Carvalho and Nilesh Dincar did their best but could not convert their superiority into goals. Almoe are in fifth position with nine points from four outings while SFX Old Goa occupy bottom spot . Siolim United got back to their winning ways and climbed to the top of the table defeating a stubborn Phoenix Loutolim by two goals to one. John Fernandes opened the scoring for the Siolim team with a well taken goal in the eighth minute. Captain Shriram Vernekar increased the tally in the fifteenth minute only to see Lucas Fernandes grab a goal in the next minute. Renato Fernandes, Moses D'Silva John Dias did their best for the Loutolim team managed by Marquees but could not find the equalizer. The Siolim lads defence led by John Sequeira and Gerald Fernandes held on to secure a well deserved win. Phoenix Loutolim slipped to tenth position . Siolim United consolidated their position at the top of the table with a second victory of the night defeating Desert Cubs by three goals to nil. Captain Shriram Vernekar scored a brace before half time to change ends at two nil. In the second half Desert Cubs came back strongly but could not contain the Siolim lads who added a third goal through Jovito D'Souza. Roger Kottor, George Mammen, Justin Matthew and Amrit Pal Singh played well for the Desert Cubs but could not avoid the defeat. Desert Cubs slipped to fourteenth Position in the sixteen-team table. Strong contenders Varca FC got back to their winning ways scoring a facile four nil victory of St Anthonys. Shane Thomas scored the first hat trick of the tournament scoring in the fifth, eleventh and eighteenth minute to give his team a well deserved three nil lead. St Anthony did put up a strong fight with Sandy Fernandes, Darryl Rasquinha, Jude D'Souza and Oswald playing a steady game. They could not however stop the flow of the Varca lads who rounded off the match with a last minute goal by Evern D'Souza. Varca climbed to eight position. Title contenders Vaxim Divar had to thank Randel Pereira for their one nil victory over a young Dubai Republicans side. In a fast paced game the Republican lads attacked from the word go but a strong Divar defence kept them at bay. Peter Cross, Sunny Gabriel, Jansen Machado and Brendan Bothelo did their best but could not penetrate the Divar defence. Their own defence however withstood the pressure from the Divar lads namely Derrick Pereira, Colin D'Cruz and Randell Pereira. The latter finally managed to slot in a goal after a goalmouth melee to snatch the winner for Divar. Dubai republicans and Divar remain in their respective positions of ninth and seventh respectively. Cansaulim FC playing some smart soccer climbed one notch into third position defeating Zuari Fc by two goals to nil. Cansaulims main striker Brian Almeida struck twice in the fifth and eighteenth minute to give his team a well-deserved victory. He received able support from Jonathan D'Souza and Remedious Furtado. Zuari had themselves to blame for the defeat with several missed chances. Good midfield play by Savio Cardozo and Karlton Rozario could not be translated into goals by their goal shy forwards. Zuari slipped one place into thirteenth position in the table. In their second game of the night Dubai Republicans shocked second placed St Marys imposing a one nil defeat on them. A solo goal by Melwyn Banz was all that separated the teams. St Marys had the better of exchanges but their forwards were guilty of missing several chances. They could have easily walked off with a big victory but on the contrary had to go home emptied handed. It was sheer determination on part of the Republican lads that brought them a goal. Emirates Flight Catering led by Inacio Fernandes scored a solitary one nil victory over a stubborn Desert Cubs. The game was played on a fast pace with Desert Cubs dictating terms in the initial stages. However the Catering lads slowly got into the game and an opportunist goal by Sebyton Colaco secured the victory for the team. Poly Fernandes, Joe D'Silva and Thomas Dias put a good performance for the Emirates team while Rahul D'Souza, Jackson Thomas and Shaun D'Souza played well for the Cubs. Emirates Flight Catering are in third position while Desert Cubs are in thirteenth place. In their second game of the night St Anthony put up a much better performance to draw with a strong Cansaulim. In fact it was St Anthony who shocked Cansaulim by taking a tenth minute lead with Sydney Lemos giving them a well deserved lead. St Anthony held on with Sandy Fernandes, Oswald Fernandes and Deril Carvalho holding the fort well. Cansaulims Benit D'Souza, Prashant Morajkar and Brian Almeida did their best to penetrate the St Anthony Defence but were unable to do so until the last minute when Benit sent in a bullet of a shot past a helpless Trevlin in Goal. In the last match of the night Copy Corner playing their second game had to pull out all stops to overcome a stubborn SFX Old Goa by three goals to two. Mohammed Kareem opened the scoring in the sixth minute only to see Captain Peter Fernandes equalize for the Old Goa lads. The teams changed ends on equal terms. On resumption Anoop Ravindran scored for the Copy Corner team to take a 2-1 lead. However SFX Old Goa had other ideas and once again equalized through William Fernandes. The game appeared heading for a draw. However Captain Rasheed K stole the winner for the Copy Corner team scoring in the last minute after receiving a good pass from Manoj. The league is played once a week and the finals are scheduled for 8 june. A total of sixteen teams are taking part on a round robin league basis. Eight top teams will move into the main quarterfinal round while the bottom eight teams will move into the plate quarter final round. The full details of the league are available on the website www.gipdubai.com _____________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. Goanet mailing list ([email protected])
