The Hindu : Sport / Football : Tamil Nadu swamps Haryana

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Tamil Nadu swamps Haryana

S.R. Suryanarayan

— Photo: K. Pichumani

Midfield action: Tamil Nadu’s Muthu (left), who scored twice in his team’s big win, tries to get past Ashish Kumar of Haryana.

CHENNAI: Master minded by skipper K. Kulothungan Tamil Nadu worked out a convincing 5-0 win over Haryana on Sunday to earn a quarterfinal league berth in the Santosh Trophy football championship here.

Tamil Nadu is placed in the Group which has holder Punjab, Bengal and Manipur. The next phase starts on June 2. Monday is a rest day.

For all the big talk that the Haryana coach had on this encounter, Tamil Nadu proved that it was only a façade.

For, once the host settled down there was no stopping it. Had the degree of error been minimal the scoreline would have looked even more flattering.

Such were the opportunities lost ironically through Muthu, Riju and Pradeep.

In the final analysis it did not matter But Coach Thulasi appeared bitter on this aspect and said, “my side need to improve further.”

Handy options

Nonetheless Riju and Muthu were the ones to look for, thanks to Kulo’s clever promptings.

Each scored twice, proving the point that multiple options in the frontline can be handy.

More so, considering the cautious way the contest started.

Each team took time to size each other up. With key man and Haryana skipper Pawan Kumar deciding to stay put initially in the defence, the effort was to clip the rival strikers’ enterprise, thus bottling up Riju or Muthu.

However, there were other options, as Kulo showed with a majestic header off a Muthu cross in the midst of a crowded defence to put the host one up. And with Haryana players unable to find any rhythm or even share of ball possession they began to fade.

Muthu tested goalkeeper Chinmoy with a scorcher which the latter palmed over.

But at the stroke of halftime, Pradeep provided the assist for Muthu to get past Pawan and goalkeeper to make it 2-0.

If anything Tamil Nadu only raised the tempo thereafter and Kulo’s best unfolded as he released passes that split the rival defence repeatedly even as Muthu and Riju charged.

Goals came, two outstanding ones from Riju, and in this midst Tamil Nadu’s goalkeeper V.P. Sathishkumar too had a chance to show his class with a brilliant deflection off a substitute Pardeep shy from close.

The result:

Tamil Nadu 5 (Kulothungan 18’, Muthu 45’ 88’, Riju 48’ 81) bt Haryana 0.

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