Another chance for Goa to break Santosh jinx

Tamil Nadu, seeded directly into the quarter-final league, will cross swords with former champion Punjab on the opening day.

The onus will be on defending champion Bengal achieving their seventh consecutive win. The team also has a record of doing extremely well in Kerala. In the 10 editions played in Kerala, Bengal was in the final six times and won the title in 1955 (Ernakulam), 1956 (Thiruvananthapuram), 1975 (Kozhikode) and 1982 (Thrissur) and were runners-up in 1960 (Kozhikode) and 1965 (Kollam).

The same ground had proved lucky for Bengal in 1981-82 in he 38th edition where they beat Railways 2-0 in the final to lift the trophy.

Bengal has an enviable record, entering the finals 38 times and winning the title for 28 years, a clear indication of their total domination over the rest in the sport.

Bengal have been making it to the final since 1993-94 at Cuttack and thereafter have lifted the trophy six consecutive times. The only previous occasion it won the trophy for five years in a row was from 1975 to 1979. Led by midfielder Basudev Mondal and players from East Bengal, National league champion Mohun Bagan and Tollygunge, Bengal are a cut above the rest.

Among other title contenders, Goa have emerged as a powerful force for many years now. However, Goa, who have made into the final since 1992, except for 1994 at Cuttack, have not tasted a win in the final.

Tamil Nadu, led by midfielder Bobby Hamilton, seems a well-knit side and can pose problems to the title aspirants. Qualifier and six-time champion Punjab were not impressive in their preliminary rounds, winning 1-0 against Tripura, 2-0 against Pondicherry and by a brace in the pre-quarters against Railways. Their strongest asset is defence, while shooting of their forwards leaves much to be desired.

For Services, the title triumph has dried up after their lone success in 1960-61 at Kozhikode where they beat Bengal by a solitary goal. However, it did impress in the preliminary phase, notching up 3-0 wins over Gujarat and Rajasthan respectively before thrashing a strong Manipur 4-0 in the pre-quarter.

Karnataka, led by defender Muralidharan, did not face any serious test in the preliminary, having played only one match against J&K (10-2), which included a brilliant hat-trick by Peter. However, they had to quell a strong challenge from Uttar Pradesh in the rain marred pre-quarter, before winning 2-0.

Formidable Maharashtra had an easy first round match against Haryana which it won 7-0. The experienced Maharashtra later routed Orissa in the pre-quarter finals 5-1.

The team captained by brainy medio Aqueel Ansari has in its rank Najeeb, a nippy striker, who had been outstanding for Mahindra and Mahindra in the National Football League recently.

The quarter-final groupings:

Group X : Bengal, Kerala, Services, Karnataka. Group Y: Goa, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Maharashtra.

Fixtures: April 9: Tamil Nadu vs Punjab; April 10: Bengal vs Karnataka; April 11: Tamil Nadu vs Maharashtra, Kerala vs Services. April 12: Goa vs Punjab; April 13: Bengal vs Services. April 14: Punjab vs Maharashtra, Kerala vs Karnataka; April 15: Goa vs Tamil Nadu; April 16: Services vs Karnataka, Bengal vs Kerala; Goa vs Maharashtra; April 18: Rest day.

Semifinals: April 19: Winners of Group X vs Runners-up of Group Y; April 20: Winners of Group Y vs Runners-up of Group X. April 22: Loser’s final. April 23: Final.