Rhys Mascarenhas, 28, found his love for football by accident. His uncle engaged in football and usually asked ten year old Rhys to accompany him to the games, often having to bribe him with an ice cream or Coca Cola. Today, Rhys is an ardent follower of the sport and is a partner in his own sports talent management agency.

This month, the footie fan from Vasco has been visiting Tilak Maidan, Vasco, everyday to watch FC Goa train. Speaking about the football franchise, FC Goa, he says, “This team looks very promising. There are a lot of youngsters playing in it and they are very dedicated to their game. Moreover they have Zico coaching them!”

“FC Goa has a fabulous line up,” opines Richard Dias, Business Partner, Radioactive Entertainment and an ardent football lover, “I’m an Arsenal fan so it’s exciting to see Robert Pires and Andre Santos been signed up for the team. I saw the friendly matches that FC Goa recently played against Sesa FA and the India U-19; it was a good game. With the team putting up a good game, it will only get stronger.”

Yolanda Souza, artist and a former international football player says, “FC Goa is a great initiative, we have really good backing in the name of Zico and this will help us move one step forward. Zico is magic, but for magic to work, all the players should put their best foot forward; it is only time that will tell what happens.”

Sharing his thoughts on the Indian Super League, Rhys Mascarenhas comments, “ISL has evoked an interest in a lot of people. Due to the influence of ISL, a lot of non-football lovers are also nurturing an interest in football. FC Goa, for instance has the star power of Zico and Robert Pires; the kind of buzz this has created among the public is evident in the reception they are getting. ISL will increase the followers of football, improve the infrastructure of the sport in India and sponsors will also come in as a result.”

Noel Rodrigues, 65, has been a frequent visitor to Tilak Maidan, Vasco and in more than half a century, the sexagenarian has watched hundreds of matches on the local, national and international level. “I have been watching matches on this ground since my childhood. Football has evolved a lot since then not just in terms of the infrastructure but also the professionalism. But, I had never imagined in my wildest dreams that someone like Zico or Robert Pires would come to Goa and train our local boys to play at this level of competition”, exclaimed Noel.

Shy and soft spoken, Danny Furtado, 21, makes sure that he finishes his work every day at The HQ Hotel, Vasco as soon as possible so that he and his companions can watch their football hero Robert Pires train at the ground. The boys had designed and printed a colourful banner displaying Pires and FC Goa and turned up at the Dabolim Airport to welcome their hero. “There was a lot of crowd so we couldn’t reach him,” says a starry-eyed Danny, “But we have been visiting the grounds everyday simply to watch him play and will get the banner signed by him soon.” he adds opening up the 5X6 banner that he was carrying along to get autographed.

Commenting on the contribution of ISL to Indian football, fans feel that there will be a lot of improvement in the quality of football in Goa which will assist in elevating the standard of the game. “We have a lot of big names in the team, so one can expect FC Goa to perform exceedingly well,” opines Noel Rodrigues. “The players have been implementing the skills taught to them by Zico; this was evident in the friendly’ game that FC Goa played opposite Sesa FA and the India U-19 squad.”

Rhys also points how the humility of the Brazilian football legend is helping boost the confidence of the players. “Coaches usually monitor the training sessions and make the assistant coach do all the running around. Unlike them, Zico himself is training the players, ably assisted by Arthur Papas. He is constantly guiding them and instructing them how to go about it. He’s very relaxed on the field and does not put any pressure on the players either. Also, training under the wing of Zico, players can probably aid in incorporate the Brazilian style of play.”

September 28, 2014 Panaji, Goa: Following soon after the signing of Arsenal midfielder robert Pires, FC Goa have now roped in former Arsenal and Brazil international player Andre Santos.

Santos, who played for Arsenal has signed on for FC Goa and will join the squad shortly.

A youth product of Figueirense in Brazil, Santos participated and helped Brazil capture the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. He joined EPL team Arsenal from Fenerbache in 2011 and eventually moved to Brazil to play with Gremio followed by Flamengo. Andre will be moving from Brazil to Goa soon.

 FC Goa roped in two of Dempo SC’s foreign imports  – Australian Tolgay Ozbey and Haroon Amiri of Afghanistan – for the inaugural edition of the Indian Super League (ISL)

 FC Goa are all set to face Chennaiyin FC in their opening game on 15^th October 2014.

16/09/2014 … young short filmmakes and producers in Goa have a golden chance to watch 70 films across the world. 1st Goa Short Film Festival is happening in Goa on 17 and 18 September.

The festival is happening at the entertainment society of Goa 9 AM to 6 pm everyday. The Chairperson of Entertainment society of Goa Mr. Damodar Naik will inaugurate the festival. Chairman of Indian Motion pictures of India Vikas Patil, Producer Anil Kakade, Meghraj

16/09/2014 …  – Goa with its scenic beauty and splendor beaches gets a facelift to its beaches across the State. Goa Tourism has taken up the task of cleaning the beaches through manual means to have clean and hygienic beaches which will help improve tourism potential in the State.

The contract began taking shape early this month and today Goa’s Honorable Chief Minister; Shri Manohar Parrikar launched Goa Tourism’s ‘Clean Goa Beautiful Goa’ campaign on Miramar Beach, Panjim, Goa in the presence of Honorable Minister of Tourism, Shri Dilip Parulekar; Principal Secretary, Tourism, Government of Goa, R. K Srivastava IAS; Chairman, GTDC, Nilesh Cabral and Director, Department of Tourism, Shri.Ameya Abhyankar IAS.

M/s. Bhumika Transport, Waste Handling Services, a Mumbai led consortium has been awarded the contract work for North Goa beaches which includes Miramar, Keri, Arambol, Mandrem, Morjim, Vagator, Ozrant, Anjuna, Baga, Calangute, Candolim, Sinquerim, Nerul, Caranzalem, Siridao, Bambolim for an amount of Rs. 7,51,40,999 for the first year. M/s Ram Engineering and Construction Company, a Mumbai led consortium will manage the South Goa stretch which includes Majorda, Baina, Bogmolo, Velsao, Arrosim, Utorda, Majorda, Betalbatim, Colva, Sernabatim, Benaulim, Zalor, Fatrade, Varca, Cavelossim, Agonda, Palolem, Patnem, Rajbag, Talpona, Galgibag for an amount of Rs. 7,0487,999 for the first year.

The contract is primarily awarded for a period of 15 months and the same has a term period of 5 years subject to the fulfillment of all obligations and methodology under the tender by the contractors.

The agencies are responsible for the placement of necessary infrastructure such as dust bins, segregation units, compositing pits and scientific disposal of garbage. Dustbins will be placed at every 100 meters interval; garbage will be collected from all beaches where it will be segregated into different parts such as bio degradable and non bio-degradable.

The non bio-degradable waste will further be segregated into components such as plastic, glass, metal, etc. and will be staked to a central place for further disposal and the bio degradable waste will be converted into compost using compost pits.

The contract includes staff employed to be upright, efficient, smartly dressed in proper uniforms to match with the best standards available to give a clean and hygienic look and appearance to tourists and people at large.

15/09/2014 …. Victorino Fernandes netted a superb hat-trick in the opening 32 minutes as Sporting Clube de Goa cruised to a 3-0 victory over Calangute Association, in a round four match of Gfa’s Goa Pro League at Duler Stadium, Mapusa on Sunday. The Flaming Oranje led 3-0 at the interval.

Sporting Goa’s Victorino was handed his first start of the season and rewarded the fans with the first hat-trick of the Goa Pro League, with three well executed goals which took his tally for the season to five and puts him on top of the scorer’s charts.

The match took a sour note in the closing stages when the Sporting Goa Coach Oscar Bruzon was told to exit the bench by the referee after taking his protest too far with the fourth official, regarding on offside decision.

Sporting Goa raced into the lead after just four minutes when Victorino wonderfully controlled a long threw ball from Rahul Kumar, before lifting the ball over the defenders head and burying it into the bottom corner.

Eight minutes later a bouncing ball from Rahul was again collected by Victorino and this time he lobbed the ball over the outrushing goalkeeper’s head.

As the game progressed, Sporting Goa continued to grow in confidence and Beevan D’Mello sent in a delicious pass for Victorino who managed to give two rampaging Calangute defenders the slip and nail the ball into the back of the net.

Late on, Victorino received a nice reception from the large crowd as he left the field to be replaced by substitute Boima Jerry Karpeh.

The victory gives Sporting Goa their first win of the season and takes their tally to 5 points from four matches, while Calangute remain on a single point after the same number of games.

15/09/2014 : Indian Women’s Football Team’s Head Coach Tarun Roy lauded his girls for their “stupendous performance” after India’s finished with a thumping 15-0 victory over Maldives in the opening Group A match of the Women’s Football Competition in the Asian Games in Incheon.

“The first match of any Tournament is of immense importance. It invariably sets the tone for the rest of the Competition and we just couldn’t have afforded any slip-ups,” he told www.the-aiff.com from Incheon.

“We checked into the Games Village in Incheon yesterday (September 13) afternoon and had less than 24 hours to acclimatize for the first match. But the character on display on the field was amazing. The girls responded in style. I’m so much impressed,” he added.

Mr. Subrata Dutta, Head of Delegation, Indian Football Teams, also a Senior Vice President, All India Football Federation, was extremely “delighted” with the performance.

“In fact, this match was not just about Football as we had the added responsibility of launching India’s campaign at the Games. That motivated us further as we had to keep Tricolour fluttering high,” Dutta stated.

“The girls not only scored goals but displayed modern Football which impressed everyone,” he further informed.

Roy, nevertheless, isn’t willing to read too much into the big margin of victory.

“Our next match against the hosts South Korea will be a very tough one. They are one of the top Teams in Asia and it will be a big challenge for us. We will carry our confidence into the next match as we prepare for them. But we cannot afford to be complacent,” Roy commented.

India next play hosts South Korea on September 17.

Panaji, 14th September 2014: Rally enthusiasts from across the country will be converging in Goa for the MRF Rally de Goa slated to be held on the 20th and 21st of September in north Goa. Goa will be hosting the 5th round of the Indian National TSD Rally Championship 2014 with total prize money amounting to over 2.5 lakhs.

Organised by FB Motorsports, MRF Rally de Goa is expected to host over 20 entries for the national championship round, from enthusiasts across cities including teams from Tata Motors, Mahindra and Maruti Suzuki. Classes include Pro Expert, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Ladies.

To encourage local, budding, motor sport enthusiasts, a local TSD event will run simultaneously along with the national rally. Classes include, Couples Class, Ladies Class and Open Class.

Regularity rallying, also known as TSD rallying (Time, Speed, Distance), is a form of motor sport usually conducted on public roads but sometimes including off road and track sections. The object of these rallies is to maintain precise times and precise average speeds on various segments of a predefined route. Each team usually consists of a driver and navigator. Teams usually start a regularity rally at fixed intervals creating a field that is spread along the route.

Farad Bhathena of FM Motorsports who is spearheading the initiative of bringing TSD rallies to Goa is a well known rally driver having competed in over 200 rallies and races in India and South East Asia. A three time National Rally Champion and multiple winner of the iconic Great Himalayan Desert Rallies, BBC Top Gear has rated him as amongst the 10 best drivers ever in the country. Farad Bhathena, FB Motorsports, said, “This event is one of our many efforts to encourage and groom drivers to maintain safety, control and to sharpen their skills, as well as to imbibe navigational skills. Thanks to MRF, IMG, Nazri Resort, Manipal Hospital and the Government of Goa for the support given to us. FB Motorsports hopes to bring many such national and international motor sporting events to Goa in the future”.

EXCLUSIVE : 10/09/2014 …. The new managing committee group under the leadership of dr shekar salkar would write to the state government for carrying out an inquiry in to the irregularities taken place in goa cricket association during the year 2001 to 2010 …

It may be noted that eight members of the executive committee of the goa cricket association on last Wednesday had passed a resolution asking gca president vinod phadke to step aside from his post of gca president as mr phadke name was figured in the pendse commission report …

the state government-run Sports Authority of Goa had recently issued a show-cause notice to the Goa Cricket Association asking why it should not be de-recognized for failing to implement Justice Pendse Commission recommendations.

Speaking exclusively to goanreporter kanzil rodrigues de-facto gca president dr shekar salkar said that though the state government had no role to dissolve the gca and appoint an administrator the state government could appoint a committee which could look in to the irregularities that had taken place in gca in the past few years of which he was also in support of

Salkar said that as a gca president he would like to change certain powers of the managing committee and give responsibilities to all his committee members and would not mind also to take action on the gca secretary chetan dessai if he did not listened to the present gca committee

Salkar also stated that out of 18 members he had the support of 11 members which included three co-opt members due to which he was able to enjoy the post of gca president as on today

07/09/2014 …. Successive victories over Chinese Super League sides completed India U-23’s preparation for the Incheon Asian Games. The two matches also completed India U-23 Team’s over two-month long preparatory Camps (since July 1, 2014) including two exposure Tours – one in Czech Republic and the present one in China, and an International Friendly Series involving two matches back home in August.

The victories, first a 3-0 victory over Jaingsu Sainty, and then another convincing 2-0 victory over Shanghai East Asia, currently ranked 4^th in Chinese Super League Table (on 41 points from 23 outings) portrayed to the Footballing World the talent on display at the Indian Football front.

The Team which comprises of three Senior Players, as per Asian Games rules, have the same nucleus which had helped India put up a commendable display in the AFC U-22 Championships in Muscat in 2012.

It was a Championship where India beat Lebanon and Turkmenistan comprehensively while a lucky United Arab Emirates escaped with a 1-1 draw against a rampaging Indian side.

Interestingly enough, India have been drawn with UAE in the Incheon Asian Games, a match which many a Player is looking forward to.

“We are looking forward to the Matches. The Asian Games is an unique opportunity for us. We thank the AIFF for providing all the support to us for the preparations,” the Players unanimously in chorus from Shanghai.

They added: “We are looking forward to the challenge and giving our best. The experience at the Games will help us mature better as professional Players.”

Both the Men’s and the Women’s Teams are supposed to be proceeding directly to Incheon from Shanghai on September 9, the tickets for which have been booked almost a couple of months back. They two squads, in fact, are supposed to be among the first Indian contingents to check into the Asian Games Village.

So far, an expenditure of almost Rs. 3 crore have been committed on both the Men’s and the Women’s Team for their preparation for the Asian Games.

While the Indian Men have been clubbed with Jordan and UAE, the Indian Women have been drawn with hosts South Korea, Thailand and Maldives in the Group stages.

The Women’s Team has also had over a month long Preparatory Camp in Mumbai (since July 11, 2014) before moving to Shanghai to play in a series of Friendly matches to prepare themselves for the Mega show.

Head Coach Tarun Roy commented the International Exposure in China “have been of immense help” ahead of the Asian Games.

“We have been waiting and preparing with all seriousness for the Asian Games. The girls have been tireless and so much focused on the job ahead. This is a lifetime opportunity for all as the exposure will help Indian Football in the future. I need to thank AIFF for their vision in providing a foolproof preparation for the mega event.”

The discipline of Football in Asian Games is scheduled to kick-off from September 14.