Thursday November 12, 2009
Despite waterlogged patches, Malaccans witnesssed an excellent display of Samba football
By PERCY D’CRUZ
Malacca: Football fans in Malacca got a taste of samba football recently courtesy of Kuala Lumpur’s Brazil Football Centre (BFC) who visited Malacca for two friendly matches with the Portuguese Youth Football Club (PYFC) at the Malacca High School ground.
Despite the rain and waterlogged pitch, both sides churned up delightful football. The visitors displayed deft touches of the ball coupled with impressive shooting and dribbling skills while the locals, who play for the under-18 and senior teams, responded with close marking and hasty defensive clearances to keep their more polished opponents at bay.
In the under-18 encounter, Mohd Fairi Rizal struck home an 18th minute penalty to give BFC a slim 1-0 win.
In the senior match where BFC fielded five Brazilian veteran players, the home side drew on superior fitness to carve out a hard-earned 1-0 win through Salvino De Costa who netted the winner in the second-half.
BFC head coach Lamartine Fernandez, 39, said they were disappointed that the early afternoon rain resulted in waterlogged patches on the field.
Nevertheless, he said the players enjoyed themselves despite the heavy ground condition and both teams gave a good account of themselves in the two evenly contested games.
He also praised PYFC players, saying he was impressed by their individual skills and ability to read the game.
He singled out Salvino as having the most promising potential who could go far if provided with proper grooming and systematic training.
The 18-year-old captains the senior team of PYFC, a club based in Ujong Pasir Portuguese Settlement.
Fernandez disclosed that he was considering offering Salvino a stint with BFC on an attachment basis.
BFC was established in Subang Jaya, Selangor in 2004. It conducts coaching and training programmes all year round, catering to under-8, -12, -16 and -18 age groups. Promising talents are sent to Sao Paulo, Brazil on playing attachments with leading domestic club sides.
Presently, there are close to 200 players training with BFC either in its playing or coaching programmes.
Sterling players from BFC have turned out for several Kuala Lumpur Junior League teams and one 16-year-old, Gan Jay Han, has even gained a call-up earlier this year to train with the national under-17 squad.
Source:
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