The Hindu : Sport : Goa regains Santosh Trophy

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Goa regains Santosh Trophy

S.R. Suryanarayan

Felix D’Souza’s heroics in the tie-breaker dash Bengal’s hopes

— Photo: R. Ragu

BACK ON TOP: A triumphant Goa team is all smiles after claiming the Santosh Trophy in Chennai on Sunday.

CHENNAI: Goalkeeper Felix D’Souza was the hero as Goa registered a 4-2 win over Bengal via tie- break in the final and lifted the Santosh Trophy in the 63rd edition of the National football championship at the floodlit Nehru stadium here on Sunday. This is the fifth time the trophy is going to Goa.

Not having conceded any goal throughout the championship, skipper Felix effected two vital saves in the tie-break to shatter the hopes of Bengal, which will have to wait for another year to see if it can add to the 29th title triumph achieved exactly a decade ago at this same venue.

After 120 minutes of energy-sapping match, including the 30 minutes of extra time, the deadlock could not be broken. Then the issue moved into the tie-break phase.

Climax Lawrence converted the first kick, but Snehasish Chakraborthy restored parity for Bengal. Then Beevan D’Mello put Goa up 2-1, but Safar Sardar failed for Bengal. Nicholas Rodrigues, who had such a good match, too failed for Goa. Lalkamal Bhowmick was the next to fail for Bengal and John Dias shot into the roof to make it Goa 3-1.

Decisive moment

Puia made it 2-3 for Bengal and then came the decisive moment when Fulgancio Rodrigues came on and slotted it in perfectly, once again Subashis Choudhary going the wrong way.

The victor and the vanquished had been identified and the cheers from the appreciative crowd rose for the new champion.

By any yardstick this was a poor final. Caution was understandable to start with but bereft of any strategy and hardly any show of ingenuity from either side, the standards dipped steeply.

Mispasses and poor coordination tarnished the competition. Of the two teams, Goa still looked closer to making the mark during the regulation time, particularly in the first phase of the match. Abranches twice made close visits before Surojit Bose returned the compliments with a snap try at the Goa end.

From then on action kept switching ends. A steadier Puia was the need for Bengal and a sharper Marcus for Goa. Both failed even as the midfielders and defenders hogged the limelight.

Subha Kumar was a trier as was Denson but Gauranga Biswas, the semifinal hero hardly got things right for Bengal. Only in the extra time with Kartick Kisku’s induction expectations rose for Bengal only because of the latter’s amazing runs and ability to sneak into the rival goal area. But he lacked support even from Puia who normally pounces on half-chances.

For Goa, the work of the defenders Cowan Lawrence and Mahesh Gawli stood out. With cohesion snapping and ingenuity missing, the contest meandered into the tie-breaker.

Good work by Referee

A highlight of the final was that it was clean football effectively handled by Referee Pradeep of Tamil Nadu. Not once did he bring out the card.

For Goa the seventh meeting with Bengal proved a landmark. Five times it had failed and once had been joint winner.

The teams: Bengal: Subhashis Roy Choudhury; Biswajit Saha (Anupam Sarkar), Rajib Ghosh, Safar Sardar, S.K. Azim; Denson Devadas, Subha Kumar, Gouranga Biswas (Kartick Kisku); Surajit Bose (Lalkamal Bhowmick), Snehashish Chakraborty, Lalam Puia.

Goa: Felix D’Souza; Rowilson Rodrigues, Covan Lawrence (John Dias), Mahesh Gawli, Fulgancio Cardozo; Wilton Gomes, Climax Lawrence, Nicholas Rodrigues, Beevan D’Mello; Marcus Mascarenhas (Branco Cardozo), Joaquim abranches (Francis Fernandes).

Referee: Pradeep Kumar (TN); Assistant Referees: Gokulananda Sharma (Mani) and Vishnu Chauhan (Guj).

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