COIMBATORE: Kerala blanked Chhattisgarh 3-0 to march into the pre-quarterfinals of the 63rd Santosh Trophy Football Championship at the Nehru Stadium here on Thursday.
Needing only a draw to qualify, Kerala struggled to find their rhythm in the first period. “The strong wind was a problem and we made a lot of faulty passes,” said coach K P Sethumadhavan.
“They played an attacking game.
It was not easy for us today,” added the coach.
Captain N P Pradeep (25th) opened the scoring as Kerala went into the break leading 1-0. The team combined better in the second period as striker K P Zubair (62nd) and midfielder Sushant Mathew (82nd) struck to put the issue beyond doubt.
Mahindra United midfielder Matthew missed a penalty awarded in the 43rd minute. His shot was saved by Chhatisgarh keeper Gurpreet Singh Kerala topped Cluster I with six points and will face the winners of Cluster II at the same venue on May 31 for a spot in the quarterfinal league.
Maharashtra will clash with Meghalaya on Friday to decide the winners of Cluster II.
Bihar blank Gujarat
Chennai: Earlier on Wednesday, an inept Gujarat floundered once again. After losing to Haryana 0-7 in their first match, Gujarat caved into Bihar 0-10 here.
After a match so repelling, as the one between Gujarat and Bihar, the relevance and purpose of Santosh Trophy is bound for interrogation.
Santosh Trophy lost its primacy after the advent of Federation Cup and the National League, which later evolved into the I-League. Still Santosh Trophy was reckoned to serve as a platform for youngsters, especially from non-football hubs, to showcase their potential and gain invaluable exposure.
But this match certainly parodied this supposition. It only reflected the actuality that certain sides were making up the numbers.
From Gujarat’s perspective it was an exercise in futility.
They could do literally nothing to check the flow of Bihar’s frontline trio— Debashish Rai, Naveen Thapa and Mohammed Shahbaz. They were pacy, alert and orchestrated manfully to nick nine goals. And when they sallied forth, Gujarat resembled a bamboo hut in a hurricane.
Rai scored four, Thapa three and Shahbaz a brace. Rajgrih Yadav too chipped in with a goal.
Gujarat’s Deepak Salunhke bringing down a surging Mohammad Shahbaz inside the box in the 14th minute was possibly the worst exhibition of retaliatory football. Duly, he was handed out a yellow card besides a penalty for the opposition.