GOA : Every once in a while in Indian football, region transforms itself into a conveyor belt producing players. And the earliest signs of that happening often manifests in the Santosh Trophy.
In the 80s Kerala started churning out a number of quality players and capped that with two consecutive wins at the turn of the decade. In the mid-90s, it was Goa’s turn to dominate the Santosh Trophy and appear in four consecutive finals.
After 2000, the Northeast has been arguably the most influential region on the country’s football map and the performances of Manipur and Mizoram in the Santosh Trophy were a precursor to that.
If that is anything to go by, the next goldmine for Indian football may be Chandigarh. It has been a great year for football in the city, with Minerva Punjab FC bringing the I-League there. Now their young footballers have re-written equations in the Santosh Trophy with some excellent performances.
When Chandigarh qualified for the Santosh Trophy final round for the first time in their history, not many people thought they would have much of an impact in Goa, especially since they were grouped alongside defending champions Services, perennial favourites West Bengal and the hosts.
But their performances here have been a revelation. In their first game, they lost narrowly to a West Bengal side that has dominated every opponent since. Then they pulled off an upset by beating Meghalaya before going down by a goal to defending champions Services.
In their final game, they held Goa to a draw. “With a bit of luck, we could have won all,” says the team’s manager Rajiv Rattan. “I am proud of how we have done here, considering we have a young team. Six of our players were born in 1997.”
Rattan credits the sudden rise of the city to Minerva Punjab FC, whose academy members make up a chunk of the team. With the team winning the U-16 I-League last month, more talented footballers are in the offing for Chandigarh. “Minerva have been doing well, bringing in talented youngsters from all over Punjab. Otherwise, it was so difficult for football in Chandigarh. We have only two grounds in the city and there are not a lot of football matches. In fact, we often have to turn to the school league for selecting our team,” says Rattan.
Rattan maintains his young team had the quality to win the tournament. It is a view echoed by the team’s captain Amandeep Singh. “We are looking the National Games next. We have qualified for it for the first time, by virtue of being in the Santosh Trophy final round. We are looking to win it. We know we can do it,” he says.