Kerala too good for Assam

S Ayyappa Swamy

The opening day of the quarter-final league of the National football championship, for the Santosh Trophy, brought out different levels of excitement for the few who braved the afternoon heat at the Cooperage stadium, in Bombay, on Wednesday.

First, there was delirium and untold excitement as Kerala, sans players from F C Kochin, functioned brilliantly to brook no opposition from qualifiers Assam and romp home 5-2 in a Group A tie.

The team from the north-east was simply unable to find an answer to the smooth-functioning former champions and last year's runners-up from the South. The two goals that Kerala conceded came in a 20-minute spell when they took a short nap after a good meal of rice and fish curry.

The second match between 29-time champions Bengal and Karnataka put the crowd to sleep. Drab, dreary and boring are normally adjectives that one would normally suffix to the worst of the matches. Yet, they are the chosen ones for this Group B match. A goalless draw was the end result, with Karnataka putting some pressure in the closing stages of the match. But it remained a classic case of ifs... if he had scored, if he the goalkeeper had not made a fine save, if the ball had not hit the post etc, etc.

Bengal, without players from Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Tollygunge Agragami, have come with a junior and inexperienced string, coached by Shabbir Ali and Prasanta Bannerjee. And the writing was clear --- this team simply does not have the trappings to win the title; nay, even enter the semi-finals.

Tamil Nadu is the third team in the group, who came through on draw of lots, pushing out Gujarat. Tamil Nadu simply do not have the arsenal to defeat both their opponents and Bengal, perhaps, hold a slight advantage as they play TN last.

Kerala scored five goals and promised more. The best of the efforts was the one in which the ball did not go in. The nippy Asif Saheer, who scored two goals along with Sylvester Ignatious, of State Bank of Travancore, was the one that brought the partisan Malayalee crowd to their feet with a brilliant high, back volley, rarely executed by Indian players and made famous by Pele in the movie 'Escape To Victory'.

It was a loose ball on top of the box and the dimunitive Saheer, seeing the ball go over his shoulder, put heels over head, connected well, but to his, and much more of the crowd, mortification the shot went just wide off the goal. Assam goalkeeper Sunil Chetry felt the 'whoosh' as the ball zipped past him.

Igantious it was who gave Kerala the lead in the second minute. He got his second goal in the 90th. Abdul Hakim rose well to nod home a cross from the right. Saheer, who was in the under-23 camp for the postponed SAF Games, struck in the 53rd and again in stoppage time.

K Sameer brought down Duleshwar Rabha and a penalty was awarded for Assam. Subir Goswami got the first reducer in the 60th and another glaring error in the defence saw Tiaakum Ao scoring in the 72nd.

It was trial by fire by Assam, who played only as well as Kerala allowed them to.

Thursday's matches: Maharashtra vs Services; Goa vs Manipur.

PHOTOGRAPHS: Jewella C Miranda