The Hindu : Sport / Football : Karnataka, Goa in quarterfinal league

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Karnataka, Goa in quarterfinal league

Amitabha Das Sharma

SRINAGAR: Karnataka rode on Sanath Kumar’s double strikes to get past Haryana 2-1 in the pre-quarterfinals of the Santosh Tophy at the Polo Ground here on Monday.

The win helped Karnataka ensure a berth in the elite quarterfinals league alongside Goa, which had to dig deep into its resources before prevailing over Railways 4-3 in the tie-breaker.

In another pre-quarterfinal match played at Jammu, Services ended Tamil Nadu’s hopes with a big 5-0 win.

Despite not being able to manage a bigger margin, Karnataka produced the right mix of tact and technique to emerge the deserving winner.

Sanath Kumar, who plays for BEML in the State league, showed his knack for converting opportunities and found the target once in each half.

Karnataka played with a clear objective and made good use of the flanks.

Taking the lead in the midfield, seasoned Xavier Vijaya Kumar fed his team’s attack with a perennial flow of passes.

The consistency paid off in the seventh minute when Nabeel relayed a Vijaya Kumar provision to Sanath Kumar, who found the target with a snap shot from the top of the Haryana box.

A 22nd minute counter-attack by Haryana caught the Karnataka defence in a huddle. Midfielder Sandeep used the opening in the opposition box to fire home the equaliser.

Karnataka redoubled its efforts after the break. After Prakash and Vijay Kumar, who saw his 59th minute shot coming off the framework, had missed close opportunities, Sanath bulged the Haryana net in the 70th minute after availing a Vijay Kumar freekick.

In the other match, Goa came across an overtly defensive Railways, which played tough to offset the efforts of the former.

Goa tried hard to organise its attacks but was effectively thwarted by Railways’ slapdash approach.

Goa succeeded in making some inroads through a crowded Railways defence but its strikers — Peter Carvalho and substitute Fredy Mascarenhas — could not produce the sharpness that would unsettle the opposition goalkeeper Ehtesham Ahmed.

The match winded to a tie-breaker where Goa succeeded. Goa custodian Felix D’Souza made two saves to decide the issue for his team — 4-3 in the penalties — after the regulation and the extra-time had ended barren.

For Goa, Mascarenhas, Valeriano Rebello, Joaquim Abranches and John Dais found the mark while Nicholas Rodrigues missed his attempt.

On the other hand Railways could score only three through Suresh Kumar, Sandeep Malik and Regin. Amrinder Singh and Suraj Mandal saw their attempts blocked.

Shaji scores hat-trick

In the match at Jammu, Tamil Nadu was totally outplayed by Services. Shaji D’Silva scored an hat-trick while Raleng and Naresh scored one apiece.

The line-up for the quarterfinal league — which divides eight teams in two groups — will decided through a draw of lots.

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