AVC (Assolna, Velim, Cuncolim)- Kuwait sponsored by Dawat Restaurants Kuwait claimed the prestigious KIFF League champions by defeating archrivals Navelim Youth Center in the finals held on 1st July 2005 on Soor grounds Kuwait. The Chief Guest for the finals was Mr. V.K. Vohra and Mr. Raymond DSa was the guest of honour.
The game started on a cautious note with NYC dominating the opening session of the first half and AVC was lucky not to concede a goal as the woodwork came to their rescue. After withstanding the onslaught of NYC in the first fifteen minutes AVC came into their own with Jimmy playing the sheet anchor role in the midfield with Roland on the flank and AVC started to dominate the game as they have done throughout this season. They took NYC by surprise and in one whirlwind move the fleet footed Molvito took the NYC goalkeeper in his stride and scored a gem of a goal. Goaded by this success AVC kept up the tempo and NYC were lucky not to concede again with Molvito and Roland missing easy sitters. At this juncture NYC resorted to hard tackles with Duarte leading from the front but the young lads of AVC were not to be intimidated. The second half was purely dominated by AVC and it was matter of time they consolidated their lead, the defense led by stand-in Captain Vincy (for Agnelo Miranda on annual leave), Godfrey, Elvis and Alex had completely bottled up NYCs forwards. It was after twenty minutes in the second half the referee changed his decision and pointed to the dreaded spot for an alleged foul on NYCs forward. AVC protested vehemently as the referee consulted his assistant who was forced by Norman of NYC in full view of the public to tell the referee that it was a deliberate foul. It was quite ridiculous of the referee to agree to his assistant, as he was the closest to the incident and had already awarded a free kick to AVC against the NYC player who was clearly seen faking. The linesman, if he had seen the incident should have raised the flag but did not do so. The referee did not issue a card to AVC player for the alleged foul. After heated exchanges calm prevailed and NYC equalized. Things started to heat up as the rhythm of the otherwise good game of soccer was broken by that horrible incident and once again NYCs Duarte used his physical strength and got into scuffle with AVCs Vincy. The referee again turned a blind eye which otherwise would have been marching orders for the offender. AVC forwards and the midfielders poured in on NYC in search for the winner and NYC goalkeeper who is otherwise known for his loud mouth than safeguarding his goal did good to keep level. The game then went into tie-breaker after extra time yielded no result. Once again AVCs goalkeeper Nicholas was the hero as he saved one and then mocked Britto who hit the post as usual to give AVC the well deserved win and the championship. It may be noted that NYC last wish for defeating AVC evaporated with this loss as they have been consistently on the receiving end for the last two seasons It was a honor for the AVCs President Mr. John Furtado and his boys for keeping AVCs name at the peak of Goan football in Kuwait. At the end of the match for AVC it was mission accomplished, fans delirious and critics stumped. As said the Real Madrid of Kuwait Goan Soccer ruled the roost in 2004-2005. >From : Demin DCruz (For AVC-Kuwait)
