Mizoram show Kerala the door
Mizoram rode on a solitary goal by Beingaichho Beokhokhei to show the exit door to five times champions Kerala in the 64th National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan here on Wednesday.
Beokhokhei, who plays for East Bengal, scored the only goal of the match in the 62nd minute. Mizoram thus joined last year’s runners-up Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Delhi in Group B of the quarterfinal league that gets underway on Thursday.
Kerala, who had beaten Assam 5-2 in their last match to make the last 16, struggled right through. A team that had relied on its attacks strangely adopted a defensive approach and that proved suicidal. Their midfield was a total flop on the day and the forwards hardly got the support they needed to breach the Mizoram defence.
Adding to Kerala’s woes was their poor passing and shoddy clearances. Most of their defensive clearances landed at the rivals’ feet, allowing them to build up pressure.
Mizoram, more aggressive and positive, dominated from the start and barring occasional sparkles Kerala did not make much inroads into the rival territory.
The North-East outfit were impressive in the first 45 minutes but their strikers could not convert their chances inside the Kerala box. Kerala had a couple of opportunities but K Rakesh and M P Sakeer drew blank as the first half ended goalless.
After the changeover, Beokhokhei had a solo run and the striker deceived the Kerala defenders and goalkeeper K Sarath to find the back of the net fetch his team the lead.
Even after that setback, Kerala could not find a way out, much to the disappointment of their supporters that included former Indian captains I M Vijayan and Jo Paul Ancheri.
A disappointed Kerala coach M M Jacob later blamed the schedule for the defeat. “We have played four matches in just seven days and the players were really tired,” said the coach.
PTI
