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The Maharashtra team left for Goa to participate in the 68th Santosh Trophy today. Maharashtra has been placed in Group A of the West Zone along with Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.
They play their first game on the 30th January against Gujarat and take on Madhya Pradesh on 3rd February. The group winners will move on to the final round which will be played at Siliguri from February 2014.
Mr. Irenio Vaz has been appointed as the Head Coach. Augusto D’Silva & Salim Pathan are the Assistant Coaches. Mr. Abdul Rauf is the Manager and Mr. Bernard D’Souza is the Asst, Manager.
“We have a very young & talented team. We have a couple of tough games against Gujarat & Madhya Pradesh We are hoping for a good beginning & are confident that we will qualify for the next phase.” said Coach Vaz ahead of the team’s departure.
WIFA CEO Henry Menezes was very pleased with the look of the team, “The availability of players from Air India & Mumbai Tigers has given a big boost to the team. We are pleased to have Steven as captain and are sure he will lead the team well.”
The squad comprises players from Mumbai teams: Air India, Mumbai Customs, Mumbai Tigers, Union Bank & Reserve Bank. There are also district players from Nagpur, Pune & Kolhapur.
The team has been training at Cooperage for the past one month.
Captain Steven Dias was upbeat of the team’s chances, “It’s a really great moment for me to lead the Maharashtra team. We have a wonderful team with the best in every position. I am confident that we will perform well in every game. We are all focused and want to win the Santosh Trophy. Our performances in the practice matches bode well for the tournament.”
Squad
(GKs – Lihaz Koya, Sugdev Patil, DEF: Rohel Shaikh, Floyd Dharmai, Shakti Singh Thakur, Imran Khan, Santosh Koli, Monish Bhambre, Jay Kumar Patel MID: Sohail Haque, Steven Dias, Royston Dsouza, Linekar Machado, Mohammed Shafique, Praneel Mendon, Vijith Shetty, Allan Dias, FOR: Sushant Bhivgade, Kevin Patrick)
Head Coach – Mr. Irenio Vaz
Asst. Coach – Augusto D’Silva
Asst. Coach – Salim Pathan
Manager – Abdul Rauf
Asst. Manager – Bernard D’Souza
