Date:18/11/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/11/18/stories/2007111861111800.htm

Sport - Football

Kerala swamps HP

Principal Correspondent

GURGAON: Shajeer and Muneer scored three goals apiece as Kerala thrashed Himachal Pradesh 15-0 and took a big stride towards quarterfinal league qualification from Cluster IV, in the 44th junior National football championship for the B.C Roy Trophy at the Devi Lal Sports Stadium here on Saturday.

Playing its first league match, Kerala drew first blood in the 20th minute through Shajeer before six others joined in the goal rush. Shajeer later struck in the 42nd and 87th minutes while Muneer (45th, 59th, 81st) came into his own midway through the match.

Merbin, S. Sadip, Jamsheer and Abijith scored a brace each while Fsahir was the other scorer. Kerala will play Assam, which also defeated Himachal, on Monday to decide the qualifier. The much-touted Delhi, however, failed to impress as Tripura edged it through Prabal Bebbrma’s 85th minute goal.

The two teams are placed in a difficult pool that also comprises defending champion Jharkhand. On Thursday, Jharkhand had beaten Tripura. Delhi will have to beat Jharkhand by at least eight-goal margin to move up.

The results: Tripura 1 (Prabal Bebbarma 85) bt Delhi 0; Kerala 15 (Shajeer 20, 42, 87, Merbin 25, 54, S. Sadip 29, 70, Muneer 45, 59, 81, Jamsheer 69, 72, Abijith 88, 90+1, Fsahir 73) bt Himachal Pradesh 0; Chandigarh 2 (Gurdeep Kumar 55, Gurpal Singh 89) bt Karnataka 0; Manipur 1 (N. Rakesh Singh 87) bt Chhattisgarh 0; Uttar Pradesh 1 (Suresh Patel 40) drew with Meghalaya 1 (Sethiya Singh 84); Orissa 3 (Prakash Kumar Dilla 22, 72, Sunder Mohan Majhi 54) bt Goa 0.