Santosh Trophy second phase awaits better show of football

Gurgaon, Oct 13 (UNI) As the quarter-final league phase of the Santosh Trophy begins here tomorrow, the stage is set for a better show of football after lacklustre preliminary rounds attended by sparse crowd.

With Goa, Punjab, Maharashtra and Kerala joining the tournament as direct entrants to the last eight league phase by virtue of being last edition's semi-finalists. With matches to be played under floodlights, telecast live by Zee Sports, tournament hosts Haryana Football Association expects a bigger crowd to throng the Chowdhury Devi Lal Stadium here to watch the bigger stars and experience night football which has been reserved to cricket only in this region.

The preliminary rounds were held here and at Faridabad from September 14 to 29 and hosts Haryana, Karnataka, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu made it to the quarter-finals.

Attendance here and at Faridabad so far has been very thin as compared to that of last edition at Kerala. This can be attributed to the lack of interest in football in this part of the country where cricket is almost a religion and cricketers demi-god.

Many were against holding such a high-profile tournament in ''non-footballing'' states but AIFF thought otherwise and argued instead that it would help in popularising football.

In fact this tournament was shifted here at the last minute after Jammu and Kashmir Football Association expressed its inability to hold it. Another reason for the thin attendance could be the unexciting football so far dished out with many star players missing in the preliminary rounds, doing national or club duties.

Controversy erupted after Jammu and Kashmir's India player Meharajuddin Wadoo was called back by Mohun Bagan to join the Kolkata club for its derby against East Bengal before a crucial match of his state at Faridabad.

The AIFF reportedly issued a show cause to the Kolkata club but the damage had already done for Jammu and Kashmir, who lost the crucial match in the absence of Wadoo.

The tournament has been devoid of spark and most of the matches -- with the exception of three or four -- have been dull and drab with as many as seven goalless draws as compared to none in the last edition at the same stage.

Compared to the last edition's more than four goals per match (148 goals from 36 matches), this tournament so far has had less than three goals per match (126 from 43 matches) with forwards found wanting in clinical finishing and midfielders showing no creativity and imagination.

Manipur has been the biggest disappointment and the side which had two international players and more than a dozen players in top NFL clubs failed to make it to the pre-quarterfinals drawing against Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Without last year's key members Tomba Singh, Sushil Kumar and Dharamjit Singh, Manipur was toothless and failed to score against lesser teams.

Karnataka, the other fancied team, barely sneaked into the quarter-finals via a tie breaker against Chhattisgarh. But, the second phase is expected to compensate for the mediocre show in the preliminaries. With floodlights and television cameras adding the glitter and pomp, the bigger stars would take centre stage and some young players will look to impress the authorities and stake selection for bigger stages.

India coach Bob Houghton has said that with India already out of the contention for main tournament of Asian Cup nest year, he would field an under-23 team against Yemen in away match next month. So, this would be a perfect stage for some youngsters to have a knock at the door for their places in the squad.

Holders Goa are the favourites this time also and they look formidable with some key players from last edition's campaign returning to the squad. Led by India international Sameer Naik, the defending champions has retained the forwadline of Anthony Pareira, Nicholas Rodrigues, Nicholas Borges, Joaquim Abranches and young India player Freddy Mascrenhas while Philip Gomes will man the defence.

However, Maharashtra would want to settle some scores for last year's heart-wrenching final match loss in the extra time against Goa. The 1999 winners have made giant steps forward in recent years with Mahindra United and Air India emerging as among the elite clubs in the country and Mumbai has recently started a league. Led by the experienced Abhishek Yadav, they have India player Steven Dias, last editions important member Soccer Velho and India reserve goalkeeper Subhasis Roy Chowdhury in a squad which has players mostly from Mahindra United and Air India. Goa have also to take care of traditional football powerhouses West Bengal, Punjab and Kerala.

In fact, West Bengal has strengthened the squad with the addition of Sanjib Kumar Maria, who did duty against Japan in Bangalore Asian Cup qualifier, Syed Rahim Nabi, Dipendu Biswas and Habibur Rehman and the Prasanta Banerjee-coached side will be looking to take the trophy after they last won it in 1998.

Punjab has named their squad almost all from JCT Mills except for captain Kameshwar Singh from BSF and India forward Manjit Singh and Hardeep Singh Saini from Mohun Bagan.

Groupings and Fixtures: Group A: Goa, Punjab, Haryana and West Bengal Group B: Maharashtra, Kerala, Karanataka and Tamil Nadu October 14: Haryana VS Bengal (1645 hrs) October 14: Goa VS Punjab at (1900 hrs) October 15: Kerala VS Tamilnadu (1645 hrs) October 15: Maharashtra VS Karnataka (1900 hrs) October 16: Punjab VS Haryana at (1645 hrs) October 16: Goa VS Bengal (1900 hrs) October 17: Tamilnadu VS Karnataka (1645 hrs) October 17: Maharashtra VS Kerala (1900 hrs) October 18: Goa VS Haryana (1645 hrs) October 18: Punjab VS Bengal (1900 hrs) October 19: Kerala VS Karnataka (1645 hrs) October 21: First Semi-final October 22: Second Semi-final October 25: Final

UNI