The Hindu : Sport / Football : Kerala far from impressive in its win

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 17, 2005

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Sport - Football

Kerala far from impressive in its win

A. Vinod

To take on Maharasthra in the first semifinal

INTENSE BATTLE: Kerala's Mohammed Rafi and Delhi's Paritosh fight for the ball. — Photo: Mahesh Harilal

KOCHI : Host and holder Kerala looked far from impressive in its 3-0 win over Delhi in the last Group A match and confirmed its berth in the semifinals of the Air-India Express-60th Santosh

Trophy at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium here on Wednesday. The home team will take on Maharashtra in the first semifinals to be played on Friday.

Needing only a draw to qualify, the home team was indeed dominant for most part of the encounter, especially after having a different plan compared to the one with which it had toiled to a solitary goal win against Uttar Pradesh on the opening day of the quarterfinal league phase.

Adopting the 4-4-2 formation and by bringing in Vinu Jose and Abdul Hakkim into the starting line-up in place of an out-of-form I.M.Vijayan and Asif Saheer, Kerala also experimented today by swapping N.P. Pradeep in the midfield and Lanel Thomas in the defence.

Pradeep fitted into the role of a medio brilliantly and was the main architect behind Kerala's second successive win in the tournament.

Failed strategies

However, the other strategies failed as the side's attacking formation looked cramped failing to use the width on the flanks effectively.

In the event, it only helped to take the cutting edge away from the moves that were initiated to probe the rival defence.

Resultantly, Kerala could hardly make an impact at the rival end for the first quarter hour of the encounter despite enjoying the majority of the exchanges.

Delhi, in contrast, was more successful as Lalit Singh Rawat orchestrated a string of raids through the right combing well with Faiz Alam and Sumit Thapa.

But it was unable to make any headway as the Delhi frontline failed to draw any support from the left.

Finally, it was Pradeep who breathed life into the passive Kerala attack as he worked in tandem with Abdul Noushad and pushed the Delhi defence back into the wall.

Still, Kerala had to wait until the 43rd minute to get into the lead. And this came in shape of a long ranger from K. Ajayan after being put through with possession from behind.

Kerala had to overcome a worrisome moment when Delhi's Faiz Alam struck the crosspiece from away.

Luckily, there was none to collect the rebound and Kerala was soon to cash in on this as Hakkim helped his side consolidate its position with a superb back-header while converting a free-kick by Pradeep in the right.

Fittingly, it was Pradeep who rounded off the tally, with a first-time effort from the top of the box.

Bengal beats Services

Bengal defeated Services 3-2 the last Group C match. Jayanta Sen and Raman Vijayan scored for the winner while Ramesh scored an own goal. L. Danny and Shaji D'Silva found the target for the loser.

Thursday fixtures: Punjab vs Tamil Nadu, Group B, 5 p.m.

Manipur vs Goa, Group D, 7 p.m.

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