Kerala and Maharashtra in last four

By A. Vinod

THRISSUR, APRIL 14.The sparks never did fly. But then, there was sufficient compensation for the huge throng as Kerala and Maharashtra booked a semifinal berth in the 56th National football championship, discarding the claims of Karnataka and Punjab respectively at the Municipal stadium here on Friday.

The second straight success for the two sides in their respective groups came about in contrasting style as Kerala chose to give some room for its opponent before winning by the odd goal in three and Maharashtra daintly overcame a sluggish first-half before demolishing Punjab with a 2-0 victory.

Every seat in the stadium was well taken before Kerala's match against Karnataka. And, the start was itself electrific what with Kerala taking the lead within the first five minutes itself. The side sported as many as three chances from the eleven that had taken the field against Services, the noticeable induction of I.M.Vijayan and the posting of Jo Paul Anchery as its left- stopper. And approaching the game with noticeable confidence the side also rattled its rival when Noushad showed fine opportunism before finding the target.

The goal came off a flag-kick earned by Asif Saheer and as the ball came curling to the top of the box, Jiju Jacob seemed to have wasted the opportunity to try with a powerful first-timer. However, his weak push into the heart of the Karnataka penalty area was to travel straight to Noushad, who showed little hesitancy before sliding the ball past a diving Subhas.

Kerala maintained to call the shots even as time wore on and it was only a timely save by Sunil Kumar off a Saheer try, after Subhas had moved out, was what saved Karnataka from further embarrassment. Subhas himself was then to produce a save off Saheer before Boniface, fed by Vijayan, preferred to test his own shooting prowess in front of an open goal.

The home team thus having kept its supporters at the edge of their seats finally consolidated its position towards the end of the first-half with Vijayan driving home a penalty awarded in Kerala's favour after Ignatius was tripped down by Muralidharan within the Karnataka goal area. However, there was a dramatic turnaround in the second-half as Karnataka showed fine resilience to bounce back and provide several anxious moments for the home team supporters.

The timely replacement of Peter with Naushad Pari also gave Karnataka's cause a further boost as the latter was quick enough to work up a formidable combination with R.C.Prakash, who six minutes past the hour finally induced panic into the stands by pulling one back for his team. The striker snapping the resistance in the right after being put through by Pari also found little resistance from Saji Joy, the Kerala custodian, as he planted the ball into the rival net with a rasping shot. Kerala cut all its frills as it then fell back to defend its citadel and preferred to probe into the rival-half only combinedly. Though these moves never met with fruition, the side did heave a sigh of relief when Saji Joy collected the ball off another shot by Prakash towards the end, but only on his second attempt.

Earlier, there was no stopping Maharashtra's onward march into the semifinals, as Punjab left with no other scope but to win showed little interest to stay behind. And what let down the side playing its last match after draws against Tamil Nadu and Goa was lack of cohesion which existed between the two crucial departments of its attack.

Punjab's lacklustre show also had a lot to do with the poor form displayed by J.Ouseph, Ram Pal and Hardeep Saini who at times seemed to be engaged themselves in a garden party rather than a do-or-die battle which had their team's reputation on the line. This in more ways than one was also to leave Hardeep Gill and Sukhjit Singh for most of the time though the former was guilty of guiding the ball straight into the hands of Virender Singh after being fed by a high lob from Saini in the right.

That move in the earlier stages of the game was also the occasion in which Punjab came anywhere near to scoring. Thereafter, it was Maharashtra which dictated terms thanks to the consistency that backed the efforts of the hardworking Khalid Jamil in the right. Jamil's fine show did cancel out the poor display which came from Khalid Siddique in the left besides proving a constant headache for the rival defenders.

Yet, it was a pity to be a witness to the poor finishing of the team's key striker, Mohammed Najeeb, who was simply to get his timing right in any of the four opportunities that were created for him craftily by Jamil. Punjab created a minor scare towards the end of the session but like his rival, Ram Pal was also unable to control his shot while attempting to convert a high lob produced by Tapan Bhattacharjee from the left.

Maharashtra continued to dominate the proceedings, at the restart, but without scoring until the 75th minute when Najeeb made amends for his earlier lapses with a goal that was his own making. Taking control of the ball from behind, Najeeb ran clear of Balwinder Singh and then dodged his way past Rajesh Kumar before he fired in the direction of the rival goal. Baljit Singh was taken by surprise as the ball bounced in front of him and swerved in.

Najeeb's second goal that put the issue beyond doubt also came in similar fashion and off a fast-break which saw him run down the middle and beat back the rival defence before slamming the ball home. Punjab thus completed its engagements with just two points from its three matches, while, Maharashtra having already tallied six points does still have a match in hand.

Goa will play against Tamil Nadu on Saturday.

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