Kerala players during a training session at the Santosh Trophy national football championships.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Thirty-two time champion West Bengal will take on defending champion Services in the first semifinal, while Kerala and Manipur will face off in the other last four encounter of the Santosh Trophy national football championship at GMC Balayogi Stadium here on Sunday.
Services and Bengal have faced each other 32 times, with the later winning 21 times to the former’s six. Interestingly, the two also clashed in the final twice, Services winning its first title in 1960 and Bengal exacting revenge nine years later.
West Bengal’s two strikers, Robi Hansda (nine goals) and Narohari Shrestha (six goals), are prolific scorers and have helped West Bengal win five of the last six games and maintain a near-impeccable record in the final round.
But then, Services can throw all predictions topsy-turvy. After a not-too-impressive group stage, it looked smooth and effective in the quarterfinal against a never-say-die Meghalaya.
Its key players are Rahul Ramakrishnan and Thingnam Bidhyasagar Singh, who are good enough to upstage West Bengal’s defence, which has conceded only two goals in the final round.
Kerala, meanwhile, hasn’t lost a match yet and the only time it shared points in the group stage was against Tamil Nadu. It outplayed teams like Delhi and Odisha with a brilliant all-round display. Striker Naseeb Rahman has been outstanding so far in this edition.
On the other hand, Manipur’s footballers have been dominating and it won’t be surprising if a few more names like Shunjanthan Ragui, Zahir Khan and others from this current side hit the bigger stage very soon.
Kerala has won thrice and Manipur twice in the five head-to-head clashes between them.
Doordarshan will telecast live the semifinals and the final while it will be streamed on ssen.com.
The semifinal line-up: West Bengal vs Services, 2.30 p.m..; Kerala vs Manipur, 7.30 p.m.
Published – December 28, 2024 06:43 pm IST
