The Hindu : Sport / Football : Suraj's strikes sink Goa

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Friday, Jun 17, 2005

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Suraj's strikes sink Goa

Sports Reporter

Tiruchi: Last year's runner-up Bengal stayed in the hunt, beating a depleted Goa 2-0 to book a place in the semifinals 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.

Bengal, with seven points from three games, climbed to the top spot followed by Karnataka (six).

Bengal not only settled down quickly but also showed that it had a clear gameplan to deal with the Goans. Habib Ali, Sovan Das and Suraj Mandal performed well in the flanks, while Rajib Ahamed, Surajit Chakravorty and SK. Ajim did the same in the heart of the defence.

It was Suraj who opened the scoring in the 12th minute. Lalkamal Bhomwick broke free from the left and sent a precise pass to the striker whose controlled right-footer crashed into the net.

Thirty-five minutes passed before Godwin Franco's raging free-kick almost got Goa the equaliser. The ball arched close to Joacquim Abraches, who moved pretty fast to reach it. The striker even managed to head the ball but to his disappointment the ball rebounded off the far post.

Solid reply

Three minutes later, the Bengal forwards came up with a stunning reply. Lalkamal sent a deep cross to a well-positioned Habib inside the danger area but the latter reacted a little late and rammed it straight into the hands of the Goa custodian.

With just a couple of minutes to go for the first half, Meviton Fernandes had a chance but his mediocre effort sailed wide.

The second half followed a similar pattern with Bengal calling the shots and Goa lacking the sting in its attacks. Three minutes into the session, Suraj could have made it 2-0 but he mistimed his shot.

In the 28th minute, the Goan defence presented Suraj with another chance and he grabbed the opportunity to slam the ball home and shut out Goa.

st day on Friday, Saturday's opening semifinal will see Group A topper Tamil Nadu against Group B runner-up Karnataka.

Points tally: Group A: Tamil Nadu 3-2-1-0-10-1-6; Services 3-2-1-0-5-1-6; Punjab 3-2-1-0-5-4-6; Delhi 3-0-3-0-1-15-0; Group B: Bengal 3-2-0-1-5-1-7; Karnataka 3-2-1-0-8-3-6; Goa 3-1-2-0-2-6-3 and Mizoram 3-0-2-1-2-6-1 (read as played, won, lost, drawn, goals for, goals against and points).

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