Panaji, Jan 13 (IANS): The Goa Football Association (GFA) has appointed Portuguese Francisco Neto as the coach for the 20-member Goa-India squad for the Lusofonia Games Goa 2014, Jan 18-29.
Neto will have to handle the absence of big names as some top I-League clubs have not released their players due to the 35th Federation Cup 2014 scheduled to kick-off in Kerala, Jan 14.
All eyes will be on midfielder Brandon Fernandes who is playing for ASD - Cape Town.
The Lusofonia Games is a multinational multi-sport event that involves athletes from Portugal and its former territories.
India will be represented in the Lusofonia Games by its former Portuguese province Goa. The Games will be held for the first time in India and will be hosted in various venues around Goa.
The squad:
Goalkeepers: Albino Pereira (Salgaocar FC), Ricardo Cardozo (Bengaluru FC)
Defenders: Caitano Viegas (Sesa Football Academy), Leston Afonso (Sesa Football Academy), Meldon D’Silva (Wilred Leisure SC), Ponif Vaz (Sesa Football Academy), George D’Souza (Sesa Football Academy), Surjit Singh (Salgaocar FC)
Midfielders: Richard Costa (Churchill Brothers SC), Paresh Korgaonkar (Sesa Football Academy), Dom Sahil Tavora (Dempo SC), Aniston Fernandes (Dempo SC), Alesh Sawant (Churchill Brothers SC), Brandon Fernandes (ASD - Cape Town, South Africa), Nickson Castanha (Dempo SC)
Forwards: Myron Fernandes (Dempo SC), Mandar Rao Dessai (Dempo SC), Brian Mascarenhas (Salgaocar FC), Umesh Harijan (Sesa Football Academy), Alber Gonsalves (Goa Velha SC)