When Port Trust Club of Karachi, Pakistan’s leading football club, was invited by the Portuguese government in 1959 for two friendlies in Goa, handpicking the state squad was a difficult task.There were several players of repute, both Goans and Europeans, plying their trade here, but while there was some debate over the rest of the squad, the first name on the Goa XI team-list was Benzinho Fernandes The stocky – and undeniably fearless – goalkeeper from Chandor was making heads turn with his brilliant goalkeeping in the First Division League with Ferroviarios (Railways), yet there was competition from the Europeans. At least two Goan teams, Salgaocar SC and Clube Independente, had Portuguese goalkeepers but Benzinho still put popular choices likes Mestre and Palmela in the shade.He lived up to his big reputation in the friendly; despite injuring his hand during a fierce first half, Benzinho soldiered on and ensured Goa kept a clean slate.“You just couldn’t look beyond Benzinho. He was an automatic choice,” said Alberto Pereira, his neighbour and former physical education teacher at Guardian Angel High School in Curchorem.Goa’s search for a goalkeeper in the late fifties and sixties started and ended with Benzinho. Not just when the Pakistan club showed up here, Benzinho was guarding the goal even when Sport Lisboa e Benfica, Portugal ’s most successful football club, played a friendly against Goa Selection or when Goa made their debut at the National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy in Madras, now Chennai, in 1964.“The best performance in the Goan ranks was rendered by goalkeeper Benzinho, who saved repeatedly from Andhra quintet in the second session,” a national newspaper noted in its match report when Goa made their debut at the Santosh Trophy and lost narrowly against Andhra Pradesh, who had five international players in their ranks, all forwards.Now 82, Benzinho struggles to recollect his glorious days but his wife Sofia and son Sergio have grown up hearing about his exploits, particularly the time when he started out as a defender and was forced into the goalkeeper’s position.“From what we know, it was entirely out of compulsion that he took to goalkeeping. Initially he was a defender. For one (second division) match in Mapusa, the regular goalkeeper failed to turn up on time and my father was asked to keep. He played so brilliantly that they pleaded with him to continue as goalkeeper,” said Sergio.Benzinho was so well-regarded at Ferroviarios that they handed him the armband. Even when Goa made its debut, he was chosen as the vice-captain and he played a starring role at all clubs which included Vasco SC and Salgaocar SC.After he quit the game when still at the height of his goalkeeping prowess, he picked up the whistle and became the Goa Football Association ’s go-to man for high-profile and controversial clashes. The port town derby between Vasco and Salgaocar was always nervy affairs and Benzinho was the man at the centre of it all.“The players and fans respected him, so nobody dared to question his decision,” recalls Pereira.For a goalkeeper with undeniable talent, Benzinho never got a chance to represent India. When Goa was liberated in 1961, it took some time for the players to get noticed, and by the time the national team doors had opened, he had called it a day.His only assignment outside the country was when Salgaocar selected him to represent the club at the Pentangular Football Tournament, organised to commemorate the centenary of the Colombo Municipal Corporation in 1968. Benzinho guarded Salgaocar’s goal fiercely and returned home without conceding a single goal.These days, Benzinho is confined to his home at Villa Formosa.Until a year ago, he would walk everyday to the nearby church but now his appearances are restricted only for the Sunday mass. Almost everyone in the quaint village has grown up listening to his exploits on the field and his sight every Sunday warms the cockles of the villagers’ hearts. For all of them, he will forever remain a hero.