By Samindra Kunti
December 16 – Yesterday FC Goa cruised to a 3-1 aggregate victory against Delhi Dynamos to reach the final of the Indian Super League in a battle between Brazilian coaches Zico and Roberto Carlos.
The two Brazilian football legends were pitted against each other in this highly anticipated clash with the winner proceeding to the final on December 20 in Goa. Their run has highlighted the pivotal role Brazil has played in the ISL with 17 football players, the highest of any nation in the league.
“Brazilian players are key to what we are trying to achieve and we envisage that even more of them will come for the ISL next year,” said president of the All India Football Federation Praful Patel to local media. “The Brazilian national team already enjoys a huge following in India and the fact that we have players from the country in the ISL is good for our game. The South Americans are much better trained and more skilful and they are passing on their expertise to our young domestic players.”
The Brazilian connection in the ISL is in part driven by the grim state of Brazilian football: of the 31,000 professional footballers registered by the Brazilian FA CBF, 82% earn less than $650 per month. Thus the ISL has become an attractive destination where players earn on average about $6,000 a month.
The India-Brazil connection is leading to greater co-operation between ISL clubs and their South American counterparts with tours of ISL clubs being planned in Brazil. The league, in its second edition, keeps growing with an attendance of over just 26,000 and 40 million TV viewers during its first week.
Zico embodies the liaison with his successful coaching at FC Goa, conveying his emotions to his players. He has led FC Goa to the playoffs in each of the two Indian Super League seasons. Spanish midfielder Joffre Mateu, Brazilian forward Rafael Coelho and man-of-the-match Nigerian striker Dudu Omagbemi delivered the punches for FC Goa as Delhi failed to defend their 1-0 first-leg advantage.
FC Goa await the winner of the semi-final between defending champions Atletico de Kolkata and Chennaiyin FC.
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