The semifinal battle array in the 65th senior National football championship (for the Santosh Trophy) looks at a mishmash of contenders aiming to get to the decisive round of the country's premier inter-State contest.
Holder Bengal and former champion Manipur's traditional might will be challenged by the uncrowned institutional sides Railways and Services.
Going by the performances in the just-concluded quarterfinal league, Manipur, the 2002 champion, and Railways are the best sides, possessing unbeaten records.
Bengal, the most crowned outfit in the contest with 30 titles so far, has not been able to live up to its reputation, getting an entry in all three probabilities of a result — a win, a draw and a loss. Services did the least on the scale of performance being the only side to reach the semifinals without recording a win.
Similar styles
The first semifinal on Thursday pits Manipur against Services in a clash of similar playing styles. Both sides are essentially fitness-oriented and work on speed and stamina to outrun their opponents.
Manipur coach S. Ekendra Singh, who is also a qualified AFC instructor, insisted that the current side was “well balanced” with a gleaning of players from the teams in the Manipur State league.
“Our team reflects the development that has resulted from the implementation of AFC's Vision India project in the State,” he said.
Manipur impressed with its attacking style in the quarterfinals and became the group topper returning the best goal average, thanks to a good combination of its attack and midfield.
Services will have to come out with a much-improved performance if it wishes to upstage Manipur, which remained one of the most disciplined performers in the tournament.
Gruelling schedule
Services coach Jagmohan complained that his players were worn out having had to play a match every alternate day since they began their campaign in the preliminary clusters on May 12.
“We played eight matches within a period of 15 days. It is not possible for the side to give its best after such a gruelling schedule,” he said.
Services has remained the most gritty side and is expected to put up a strong challenge against its famed opponent.
Bengal, which lost its last outing against Tamil Nadu, hopes to bounce back against the most successful side in the tournament so far — Railways. Bengal coach Shabbir Ali has pinned his hopes on the team's main striker Branco Vincent Cardozo to get through the Railways challenge.
The team has some niggling injury problems which Ali expects to get over as the team got five days' rest before its match on Friday.
Railways coach Souren Dutta hoped his team would retain its domineering form that helped it attain an all-win record till the semifinals.
