This Armando is no Diego!

You have to grant it to Armando Colaco. Sitting in Goa on Tuesday evening, the thinking coach was not exactly chewing his nails when East Bengal were playing Mahindra United in the City of Joy.

When word trickled in EB had won, Colaco and the bunch must have celebrated because the win in this edition of the NFL is very special. When you talk of Indian soccer , sorry football, it always has had to do with the Kolkata giants.

This time, there has been such a dramatic change in the script, and none of those teams from the Maidan looked capable of coming big in a competition which obviously is a blue-riband event at home.

I am no great follower of Indian football, but let me tell you, whenever the Kolkata teams have done well, it was not because of talent they raised on their own. It had to do with the moolah being shown to ‘star’ players from outside the state or even overseas.

Perhaps, in this edition of the NFL, names like John Dias, Clifford Miranda and Climax Lawrence have been heard so well – all from Dempo – we have not had to worry about getting the names right of the Nigerians or other foreign imports!

What good is this win going to do Dempo? I, for one, think, their win this time was more forceful than the one in 2005, and Kolkata clubs really would like to begin the post-mortem(s) rightaway.

And for coaches who make their living from Kolkata soccer, I bet the days ahead are going to be real tough. We have had someone like Sukwhinder Singh (JCT coach ) being thrust as national coach now and then. He has perhaps made more ‘comebacks’ then players.


My question to Priyaranjan Dasmunsi and other AIFF dadas is , will Armando Colaco get some recognition? I am not saying sack Bob Houghton, but let’s give this man Colaco something to do.

No?