The Hindu : Bengal sails into semifinals

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 19, 2003

Sport

Sport - Football

Bengal sails into semifinals

By S.R. Suryanarayan

Photo: K. Gajendran

Tamil Nadu's Vasanthi (right) and Annu Kumari of Bihar locked in a tussle for the ball in the senior National women's football championship in Chennai on Wednesday.

Bengal 6 UP 0

Tamil Nadu 0 Bihar 0

CHENNAI JUNE 18. Luck played a big part in the senior National women's football championship at the Nehru stadium on Wednesday.

While U.P. was fortunate to get away without a massacre against fancied Bengal, which had a comfortable passage into the semifinal from Group IV with an easy win, host Tamil Nadu was a shade lucky since the qualifier from Group III will be decided only after the next match given the stalemate against Bihar today.

However, it was Maharashtra which was distinctly unfortunate as far as the Tamil Nadu-Bihar outcome was concerned. Being the third team in this group and having lost to Bihar earlier, its run in the championship ended. Only if Tamil Nadu had won, Maharashtra could have kept its hopes alive. But the side still has a role to play — decide whether Tamil Nadu or Bihar makes it to the semifinal. Only a 2-0 verdict for Tamil Nadu can help the host advance at the expense of Bihar. On the other hand, a simple win would bring the lots out to pick one team.

Though there is more drama in store, this much was clear from Tamil Nadu's exhibition against Bihar — it was lucky to escape with a point. It was not as if Bihar was outright superior but the team looked technically better. The understanding among the players was good and that meant the flow of the moves had a definite direction and were aimed at unsettling Tamil Nadu.

It is never easy to play with freedom under pressure and the Tamil Nadu girls looked too keyed up for the occasion, given the fact that even simple tackles and kicks were devoid of purpose. Even when the ball rolled favourably occasionally, demanding a crisp shot deep into the Bihar territory, strength seemed to desert the players be it Shalini, Susila or Vasanthi.

Tamil Nadu was, however, well served by its goalkeeper Nalini who had a big hand in keeping the State's hopes afloat. Bihar midfielder Mausam Kumari, a clever distributor, once tested Nalini with a snap 25-yard shot. Most goalkeepers in this championship have been floored by the aerial shots and for a moment, Nalini almost entered that list when she propelled the ball up even as Sevanjali and Neelu Kumari charged towards her. But the Tamil Nadu goalkeeper showed alacrity by quickly grabbing the ball and warding off the two rival strikers.

More tests followed her in that period, the most difficult one while negotiating substitute Beena Kerketta's clever overhead lob. The final moments of the match were also eventful. Once, Sevanjali was a trifle late in reaching a goalmouth cross and defender Gokila, picking a leaf out of Nalini's book, ran back to intercept her in the nick of time. How the spectators wished to see similar testing periods at the Bihar-end!

Having seen the Tamil Nadu girls in full flow earlier, the expectations were high. Besides, the team had beaten Bihar in a tournament final in recent times. But against fast moving forwards like Sevanjali, Neelu and July Kumari, the Tamil Nadu defence wilted quite early. Desperate clearances are a gift for any rival and Bihar is no small team in this sport.

With Mausam and Anjana shoring up the midfield, Bihar needed only one thing to go right — a good shy at the goal. Additionally, the team had in its defence the tall Annu Kumari, who played an admirable role in killing any Tamil Nadu enterprise much before the danger area.

Resolute tactics were the need of the hour but the Tamil Nadu girls played into their opponents' hands, not scaring Samira Topno under the Bihar bar even once. Even the occasional opportunity, like the one late in the first session thanks to the fine work done by Shalini and Vasanthi, was wasted clumsily by Ruby who had just the goalkeeper to beat. Clearly, there is a lot of homework to be done for Tamil Nadu before the Maharashtra match.

In the other game, Bengal was hardly stretched and could even afford to miss two goals through off-side rulings. The young U.P. side, which progressed thus far only because it had conceded lesser number of goals in the preliminary phase, had little pretensions while taking on its fancied opponent.

In the eighth minute itself, Bengal opened its account as Swapna Guria made the most of a Alpana pass. Then Rinku Ghosh, who performed a hat-trick in the previous match, added two goals (15th and 31st minutes) and was in line for her second successive hat-trick early in the second session. However, her effort with a rebound off the post was wide off the mark.

Soon, it was Swapna in focus again and when she virtually walked in with the ball for two successive goals (53rd and 75th), both from regulation crosses, it was her turn to be in line for a three-in-a-row feat. But that too did not materialise with substitute Sefali Choudhary rolling in the sixth goal (77th) off a Sharmila long pass. Mercifully, the agony ended there for U.P.

Thursday's matches: Goa v Kerala (2.45 p.m.), Punjab v Karnataka (4.30 p.m.).

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