Daily Archives: April 26, 2018

Kerala pip Bengal in penalty shootout, win Santosh Trophy after 13 seasons

This was Kerala’s sixth Santosh Trophy title and first since 2004-05. Kerala had downed Punjab 3-2 with an extra time goal to win their last Santosh Trophy in October 2004.

Kolkata: Kerala footballers jubiliate after winning Santosh Trophy by beating Bengal at Salt Lake in Kolkata on Sunday. PTI Photo (PTI4_1_2018_000155A)

Kerala held their nerves to beat Bengal via penalty shootout as they clinched their sixth national football championships for the Santosh Trophy at the Salt Lake Stadium on Sunday.

Locked 2-2 after extra time, Kerala goalkeeper Mithun V put up a stellar show in the tie-breaker to help his side win 4-2.

Ankit Mukherjee and Nabi Hussain Khan missed the first two penalty kicks for Bengal as Midhun V thwarted both their attempts.

Tirthankar Sarkar and Sanchayan Samadder’s conversion did not help as Kerala scored through Rahul V Raj, Jithin Gopalan and Jestin George.

For the final kick, Jiten Murmu took on the gloves but Seesan S shot past him to deliver Kerala their first Santosh Trophy since 2004-05.

Kerala had beaten Punjab 3-2 with an extra time goal to win their earlier Santosh Trophy title in New Delhi in October 2004.

Earlier Jithin MS gave Kerala a 19th minute lead before Bengal captain Jiten Murmu restored parity in the 68th minute.

After the regulation time stalemate, Kerala once again went ahead in the extra time when Vibin Thomas found the net with his 117th minute header.

Kerala had the numerical advantage in the last eight minutes when Rajon Burman was sent off in the 112th minute.

But despite the odds, Tirthankar Sarkar scored late from a curling free kick in the 120+6th minute to take the game into the tie-breaker.

However, it was a heartbreak for Bengal as they failed to defend their crown as the Satheevan Balan coached-side kept a clean record to clinch their sixth title.

The hosts were on the attack straightaway as Sarkar had two free-kick chances from the left side of the area within the first six minutes.

While the first one was duly cleared by the Kerala wall, left-back Sreerag G pulled off a goal-line clearance from a Monotosh Chakladar’s shot after goalkeeper Midhun V parried it away.

It was Kerala who broke the deadlock against the run of play when Jithin Gopalan intercepted a ball in the centre of the park and found Seesan S close by. He then showed some great vision to release Jithin MS on the run.

Bengal’s left-back Abhishek Mukherjee was off his position and with Sourav Dasgupta failing to track the winger, Jithin MS brought up his fifth goal of the tournament by slotting home through goalkeeper Ranajit Majumder’s gates.

All attempts by Bengal forwards were thwarted by the southern side. Monotosh Chakladar attempted a header from a set-piece in the 25th minute but it was straight to Midhun.

Skipper Murmu tried his luck after the half-hour mark from long range but the ball went over the bar.

Bengal finally put their foot on the gas and scored when Chakladar headed down a long ball and substitute Rajon Barman broke through to feed the striker who found the back of the net with a delectable left-footer.

Visibly tired, both teams slowed down in the last 30 minutes.

In the 117th minute, Kerala took advantage of the extra man and Jestin George’s cross from the left was headed home by Thomas.

However, Sarkar had other plans when he converted from a free-kick from 25 yards in the sixth minute of injury time, taking the game to a shootout.

Bengal coach blames injuries

Bengal coach Ranjan Chowdhury blamed their heartbreaking loss to Kerala in the Santosh Trophy final on injuries to key players.

Trailing 1-2, Bengal were reduced to 10 players with eight minutes left in the extra time, but they managed to level through Tirthankar Sarkar’s curling freekick in the 120+6th minute and take the match into penalty shootout.

Kerala sealed the issue 4-2 in the penalty shootout as Bengal missed the duo of Bidyashagar Singh and Sourav Dasgupta sorely, Chowdhury said.

“We had to make the substitutes all because of injuries… The duo was supposed to take penalties. It was a lost battle in the penalty shootout, much before it began,” Chowdhury rued at the post-match news conference.

Bidyasagar, who had scored the solitary goal in their win over Chandigarh, sustained an injury and was replaced by Sandip Bhattacharjee in the 90+2nd minute.

At the start of extra time, Sourav Dasgupta also picked an injury to be replaced by Krishna Biswas.

Back in 1988-89, Bengal downed Kerala 4-3 on penalties after they were one-all. In 1993-94, Cuttack, the match too was decided in the penalty shootout when Bengal beat Kerala 5-3 after they were locked 2-2. This was Kerala’s sixth Santosh Trophy title and first since 2004-05. Kerala had downed Punjab 3-2 with an extra time goal to win their last Santosh Trophy in New Delhi in October 2004.

For this edition, Kerala trusted former Calicut University coach and national team scout Satheevan Balan who opted for their youngest-ever team.

Kerala defeated Chandigarh 5-1 in their tournament opener before handing out 6-0 and 3-0 thrashings to Manipur and Maharashtra to reach the semi-final.

In their final group league, Kerala defeated Bengal 1-0 as they finished the tournament winning all their matches, and doing a double on the record 32 times champions.

“It’s a fresh team and my technical staff also new so I could work freely. I could choose the players I like and they have done an excellent job. We have thirteen players without job and they are young players,” he hailed, giving credit to the boys.

“We selected a very young team that we believed can compete. They proved during the South Zone matches and we qualified. We understood this team was capable to put up a fight against any other team at an all-India level and they have showed this in the final.”

Satheevan was appointed national team scout under Stephen Constantine in 2015 and the current crop of players playing for him will be hopeful of a national call-up.

source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Sports> Football / by PTI, Kolkata / April 02nd, 2018