Cafu in action for Goa in the Premier Futsal league in India. (Photo courtesy: Premier Futsal)
It was the last matchday of the group stages as Bengaluru 5’s and Goa 5’s battled it out to join Kolkata 5’s in the semi-final from Group B. Goa 5’s played their last game without a marquee player, with Cafu still to arrive in India. Today, it happened to be a different story. The World Cup winning captain who said he has spent a lot of his leisure time playing Futsal with his friends in Brazil to stay fit, felt at home on the Futsal turf.
It took Cafu just a couple of minutes to take the first shot on goal and take the second shot a minute later. The first quarter also saw 18 year old Bengaluru 5’s Jonathan Piers take Cafu head on which kept the spectators in the game. The deadlock was broken by Goa 5’s, after Michael Silva drove home a deflected save from the Bengaluru 5’s Elias.
The second half became an end to end contest which saw the goalkeepers parade of their posts and the scoreline remained in favour of the home side against the Bengaluru 5’s.
The third quarter started for Goa with a bang as Vampeta rolled the ball to Rafael’s path who hit the back of the net from close range to double Goa 5’s lead. The Goan defence under Cafu’s guidance looked intimidating. They managed to shut down the Bengaluru attacks way before they could become a concern for their goalkeeper Bebe. He did not have to make a single save all through the quarter.
With Bengaluru trailing at the start of the final quarter, they had to put their might behind to find the goal. Their goalkeeper Elias was at the half way line dictating terms and putting pressure of the Goa 5’s. Cafu continued to dominate the proceedings and guiding his team from the back. Vampeta converted a penalty at the 39 minute of play to seal their berth in the semi-finals along with Kolkata from Group B.
(Premier Futsal Press Release)