Ferrao strike helps Goa Veterans land gold

Panaji: Philip Ferrao scored the only goal as Goa Veterans defeated Uttarakhand for the football gold medal at the 4th Khelo Masters Games in Delhi, recently.
With the final heading towards the tiebreaker, the former Churchill Brothers midfielder struck from outside the area to beat the Uttarakhand goalkeeper hands down.
Led by former Customs defender Alberto Pinheiro, the Goa Veterans – comprising of players over 60 years – played some delightful football before a sizeable crowd. The defence comprising Maurice Fernandes, former MPT player Gill Soares, ex-Salgaocar star Minguel Miranda and Pinheiro did a wonderful job while keeping former Goa Police goalkeeper Prakash Naik’s goal intact.
The Goan midfield starring ex-Vasco and MPT player Agnelo Fonseca, man of the match Ferrao, Eddie Fernandes and Mahesh Karapurkar worked like a well-oiled machine allowing Andrew Theodosio and Rubio Vaz to constantly threaten the Uttarakhand goal.
Theodosio and Ferrao were unlucky as they came close to scoring, only to see their efforts hit the crossbar.
Ferrao finally came to the rescue of Goa when his snap shot from more than 25 yards in the 18th minute caught the Uttarakhand goalkeeper napping for what proved to be the match-winner.
Also featuring in the side were like Vincy Antao, Fanchu Peixoto, Martin Pires, Avelino Ferrao and Joao Dias.
Nearly 2,300 athletes participated in the fourth edition of the Khelo Masters Games.