Floodlights, stands at Duler by 2015

PANAJI: Goa Football Development Association (GFDC) which has been growing from strength to strength, on Tuesday, further strengthened its roots by declaring open two u-14 Pre-Academies for North and South Goa.
In a bid to make Goa the "Mecca of Indian football" and groom young-sters in time to break into the Indian team in time for the U-17 World Cup lined up in three years with Goa as one of the host venue, the GFDC has roped in South African technical director Katz Naidoo.
"The children will be trained and they have time till 2015 to improve. They have to be a part of the transition and only the impressive ones will make the cut. But I request the parents to ensure all this while they excel academically as well. It's a holistic process," said Naidoo during the launch at the Duler stadium.
Around 70 children have already been shortlisted, out of which 25 from each Pre-Academy will be absorbed for the Academy next year.
GFDC chairman Rufino Monteiro insisted that Goa has to be the torch-bearer in terms of producing top-class footballers who hopefully might take India to the World Cup someday. "For the last two years we have been identifying talent and trying to take them to the next level. We have to make sure Goa gets the recognition as the Mecca of Indian football. It's these kids who can take India to the World Cup in the fu-ture," he added.
Goa's deputy chief minister Francis D'Souza, who was the chief guest for the evening, promised floodlights at the stadium by next year and also ensured proper measures to bring up new stands in the south and east.
During the three-hour celebration, GFDC and Water Resource Depart-ment (WRD) played out a friendly match which the latter won (4-3) via the tiebreaker. WRD scored in the very second minute of the match through Derrick D'Souza. However, GFDC's Deryl D'Souza negated their lead seconds before the final whistle. In the ensuing tiebreaker, Melwyn Fernandes, Shekhar Kerkar and Pelegrino Rodrigues were on target for GFDC while Danny Dias, Nickson Rebello, Mario Rebello and Martin Fernandes converted for WRD.