It was so nice to know that Ghana’s former football coach Mariano Barreto was born in our Old Ribandar hospital on 18th January 1957.
Mariano’s mother hailed from Ribandar and he migrated to Portugal when he was just three years old and now has only a cousin who lives in Panjim. He happens to be a distant relative of Goa’s outstanding footballer late Visitacao Lobo who was the first Goan to play for India’s football team. Having been able to get his mobile number, it was delightful to have a long whatsapp chat with our Ribandar born Mariano who had just returned to Lisbon after a stay in Brazil. Mariano was so happy that we are trying to restore medical facilities at the Old Ribandar Hospital where coincidentally he was born, while he was unhappy when I told him that Ribandar was still struggling for a football ground. The great soccer coach expressed his strong desire to impart training to our young Goan footballers. The now 64 year old globe-trotting football coach Mariano Barreto has been the frontrunner to be the head coach of Asante Kotoko, the largest local league football team in Ghana, a charge he told me he expects to take over next week. Until 2018 Mariano was with the Lithuanian side Stumbras and earlier handled clubs like Marítimo, Al-Nassr FC, Naval 1º de Maio, AEL Limassol, Recreativo do Libolo and Al-Qadisiyah. He also served as assistant coach at the Russian sides Dynamo Moscow and Kuban Krasnodar "I believe India, with its emerging economy, has a great future, and if I could contribute to the sport in a country where I born, I would be the happiest" is what Mariano Barreto had told Goa’s Sports journalist Marcus Mergulhao while he was on a visit to Goa way back in May 2011. It would be nice to see our outstanding Ribandar born Mariano Barreto to be called upon by FC Goa to be their formidable Coach.
