FOOTBALL HEADLINES
Tuesday, 3 October 2023
Friday, 3 February 2023
Traditional powerhouses set to clash in 76th Santosh Trophy final round 2023
In all 12 teams, including defending champion
Kerala, qualified for the final round of the Santosh Trophy, all set for a
clash to etch their own names on a trophy synonymous with the best of Indian
Football.
Kerala,
Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Odisha, Punjab, Bengal, Meghalaya, Delhi and
Manipur qualified from the group stages. They will be joined by Railways and
Services in the final round of the tournament to kick off in Bhubaneswar on
February 10. The semifinals, third place play and the final will be played in
Saudi Arabia.
Kerala,
Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Odisha, and Punjab are placed in Group A while
Group B include Bengal, Meghalaya, Delhi, Services, Railways, and Manipur.
The group
stage of the tournament was played across six different venues -- Assam, Delhi,
Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha and Kerala -- and contested by 36 different teams.
Defending
champions Kerala go into the final round as, arguably, the favourites. The
numbers bear testament to this. Not only have they won two of the last three
editions -- and seven titles overall -- but they have also been supremely
dominant in the group stages too, scoring the most goals (24) in five games at
a mind-boggling rate of 4.8 goals per game. Playing at home, they conceded a
mere two goals in the group stages to qualify for the final round.
Their
biggest challenge will come from Bengal, who hold the record for the most
titles in the tournament's history (32). Bengal's last win came in the 2016-17
edition, but the team has made three of the last four finals, losing both times
to Kerala -- once at home in Kolkata and the second in Malappuram. Slotted in
Group B, they will not meet their nemesis till the knockout stages, if all goes
to plan.
Besides the
two long-term favourites and nemesis, Punjab, Maharashtra and Karnataka will
hope to ride on the dark horses tag to make the cut for the knockouts. Delhi,
who have qualified for the final rounds after missing out on the last two
occasions have not won the tournament since 1942. They go in as underdogs but
if their performance in the group stages is any indicator, no one will take
them lightly.
A traditionally
strong Services team will hope to arrive at the final rounds and do what they
do -- silently to make it to the final round, efficiently and without much
fuss. Services have won five of the last ten editions of the tournament and
will be keen to erase the memory of a disappointing performance last time out.
Bengal
striker Narohari Shrestha, Maharashtra's Arif Sheikh and Kerala's Nijo Gilbert
lead the goalscoring charts with six goals each. While none might come close to
breaking Inder Singh's impossible feat of 23 goals, they will hope to etch
their names alongside him as the winner of the golden boot for the tournament.
The
tournament returned to Odisha for the first time in over a decade. The state
has never won the tournament or even made the semifinals in its history.
The results of the draw are as follows:
GROUP A:
Kerala, Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Odisha, Group VI Winner
FIXTURES
February
10: Goa vs Kerala 02:00 PM
Maharashtra
vs Odisha 02:00 PM
Punjab
vs Karnataka
February
12: Kerala vs Karnataka 02:00 PM
Punjab
vs Maharashtra 02:00 PM
Goa
vs Odisha 07:00 PM
February
14: Karnataka vs Goa 02:00 PM
Odisha vs
Punjab 02:00 PM
Kerala
vs Maharashtra 07:00 PM
February
17: Maharashtra vs Karnataka 02:00 PM
Odisha
vs Kerala 02:00 PM
Punjab
vs Goa 07:00 PM
February
19: Karnataka vs Odisha 02:00 PM
Goa
vs Maharashtra 02:00 PM
Kerala
vs Punjab 07:00 PM
GROUP B:
Bengal, Meghalaya, Delhi, Services, Railways, Group II/VI Runners-up
FIXTURES
February
11: Delhi vs Bengal 02:00 PM
Manipur
vs Railways 02:00 PM
Meghalaya
vs Services 07:00 PM
February
13: Bengal vs Services 02:00 PM
Meghalaya
vs Manipur 02:00 PM
Delhi
vs Railways 07:00 PM
February
15: Services vs Delhi 02:00 PM
Railways vs
Meghalaya 02:00 PM
Bengal
vs Manipur 07:00 PM
February
18: Manipur vs Services 02:00 PM
Railways vs Bengal 02:00 PM
Meghalaya vs Delhi 07:00 PM
February
20: Services vs Railways 02:00 PM
Delhi
vs Manipur 02:00 PM
Bengal
vs Meghalaya 07:00 PM
Sunday, 25 December 2022
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