The Hindu : Sport / Football : Karnataka has it easy

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Friday, Jun 10, 2005

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Sport - Football

Karnataka has it easy

Sports Reporter

QUITE A TUSSLE: Karnataka's Prakash (right) battles for supremacy with Goa's William Colaco. — Photo: M. Moorthy

TIRUCHI: : Goa's frailty in defence showed in the second phase and South Zone toppers Karnataka made the best use of it to score a fantastic 4-0 win in a Group B league match of the 14th National under-21 (inter zone) football championship for the Dutta Roy Trophy at the St. Joseph's College HSS grounds here on Thursday.

Karnataka, having played the zonal round here last week, was familiar with the ground conditions. It mixed both short and long passes effectively to knife its way through the rival fort time and again. But every sharp move was cut short by the defenders. The Goan forwards also made good use of the ball the first quarter of an hour. In fact, it was the more aggressive side in every department except finishing.

Smart save

As the minutes raced by, the Goan striker Joaquim Abranches trapped a long ball from the left flank, outpaced a couple of defenders and finished his run with a powerful drive only to find Suresh, the Karnataka custodian, bringing off a smart save to his right. Minutes later, Joaquim came up with a similar effort but to no effect.

The rains that came pouring in just at the beginning of the second half brought with it fortunes for Karnataka. Strikers W. Ariwind and Sanath Kumar looked threatening all of a sudden.

Goa took no extra precautions to stop the free-flowing duo and four minutes into the session had to pay the price. Sanath was the provider and Ariwind came up with a precise finish from close range. Sanath's turn came up five minutes later. He grabbed on to a well-disguised pass from Ariwind, withstood a determined defensive challenge, and retained his balance before firing it past Gerald D'Mello, the Goan custodian.

Goa's defence couldn't match the brilliant skills of its opponent, particularly that of Sanath and Ariwind. Sanath intercepted a pass and carried the ball forward before sending one into the net. Six minutes later, Ariwind, thanks to Sanath, duly slammed the fourth to seal a comfortable win for the team.

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