Abel Mathews (10) and Mauvin Borges (9) run riot in sub-junior national football.
Goa 27 Pondicherry 0. It is not the scoreline of a waterpolo match but the result of a sub-junior national football championship match for the Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy that took place at the Air India ground in Kalina on Friday.
The match saw the goal-scoring prowess of particularly two Goan strikers — Abel Mathews (10) and Mauvin Borges (9) — who made it a one-way traffic from the word go.
Scheduled as the first match of the day, Pondicherry must not have had any idea of what is in store for them even though the Goans were determined to put up an improved show after having lost the first match 0-4 against Karnataka. After spending three sleepless nights, Goans got some respite only on Thursday when they were provided a decent accommodation by the Western India Football Association (WIFA).
Abel, the soft spoken striker hailing from Manipur, himself was bewildered with the number of goals he pumped in. “It’s 9...no 10 in total,” he said after recollecting the fruitful moves.
Introduced to the game in Goa, the ninth standard student may not have thought in his wildest dream also that he would hog the limelight like this. “I never thought I would score so many goals but we expected to win by a bigger margin anyway,” Abel told DNA after the match.
Abel had switched base to Goa from Manipur only to pursue football. “I stay with my uncle and aunty in Mopasa and my parents are still in Manipur,” he said, adding that Indian captain Baichung Bhutia is his role model. “Among Indians, Bhutia is my role model but I also like to watch Lionel Messi in full flow.”
Abel’s partner in crime, Mauvin, was even more modest. “There was virtually no resistance in their defence line, that’s why I could score so many goals,” Mauvin said while wiping his face with a towel. The 10th standard student, who idolises Climax Lawrence, would love to play for the top Indian clubs one day. “I want to play for the top clubs and thereafter for the country,” he said.
Coach Seby Noronha was more than satisfied with his wards’ performance. “I knew we will win by a big margin but never expected it to be such a one-sided affair…We have to win against Kerala too on Sunday as we lost our first outing, let’s see,” Noronha quipped.
For Goa, Myron Mendes (4), Bipin Mallick, Joel Fernandes, Veloid Dias, Constancio Rodrigues completed the rout.
Meanwhile, later in the day, riding on Anto’s four goals including a hat-trick, Karnataka outplayed Kerala 6-1. Shivram scored the other two goals while P Harikrishnan reduced the margin for the opponents.
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