“Bino Geroge, Bino George,” they chanted from the stands. The Kerala coach waved at them, sporting an almost embarrassed smile. He deserved those cheers from an excellent crowd at the Corporation Stadium on Saturday.
Not merely Bino’s boys won 6-0 against Tamil Nadu and thus qualified for the final phase of the Santosh Trophy, but they played some marvellously entertaining football, too. And they did that when all they needed was just a draw to win Group A in the South Zone qualifiers.
A couple of days ago, Bino’s counterpart Jestes Antony had conceded that Kerala was the stronger side and it would be a tough match. Still, he may not have anticipated the kind of mauling that his side received. And this Tamil Nadu team is no pushover; it had thrashed Andhra 4-1 in its opening match.
But it had no answer to a relentless onslaught from a Kerala side that was brimming with talent and was playing according to a well laid-out plan. In Jijo John and P. Akhil, the team had a resourceful midfield and in front of them were three speedy, skilled strikers —M.S. Jithin, Leon Augustine and P.V. Vishnu.
But for some good work under the bar by the Tamil Nadu goalkeeper Dinesh Jerome and a splendid goalline save by S. Sakthivel, Kerala would not have to wait till the 24th minute for the first goal.
Its architect was Jijo, who cut into the box after getting the past the Tamil Nadu defenders before release a superb square pass to Vishnu. That was a lovely goal, but even lovelier ones followed.
Beautiful solo effort
There was a beautiful solo effort from Jithin, as well as a back-heeled strike from Jijo himself. For variety, there was a fine long-ranger from substitute Mousoof Naizan, too.
All that meant Bino could not stop smiling, long after the match was over.
“I don’t like negative football,” he said. “I told my boys to attack.”
They obliged.
The result:
Kerala 6 (P.V. Vishnu 24, M.S. Jithin 33 & 45, Mousoof Naizan 83, Jijo Joseph 90+2, Emil Benny 90+4) bt Tamil Nadu 0.
Sunday’s match: Telangana vs Puducherry (3.30 p.m.).
