The quartet joined Kerala, Indian Railways, Mizoram and hosts Tamil Nadu, all of whom had made the grade from their respective Clusters here on Thursday. The winners of the pre-quarterfinals will join last year’s semifinalists -- Punjab, Services, Bengal and Karnataka -- in the quarterfinal league from June 2-7.
Goa ensured their progress with a 4-0 rout of Orissa, while Maharashtra took out Meghalaya 3-0, Manipur overcame Sikkim 2-0 and Haryana eliminated Bihar 3-0.
Four times champions Goa put on an impressive display and after Marcus Mascarenhas struck in the opening minute, Beevan D’Mello (33rd), Climax Lawrence (44th) and Rowilson Rodrigues (70th) added to the tally. Two goals by Pradeep Kumar (42nd, 90th) featured Haryana’s win against Bihar following an early goal by Surender Kumar (6th).
Manipur did just enough to beat Sikkim with Khenthang Paite (14th) and Singam Subash Singh (41st) scoring.
Maharashtra scored thrice in five minutes through Paresh Shivalkar (64th) and K Sampath Kumar (67th, 69th) against Meghalaya.
Tamil Nadu thumped Tripura 7-0 with goals from Pradeep (12th), Riju (22nd, 65th) Kulothangan (27th), Muthu (30th, 87th) and Alamurugan (90th).
The draw for Sunday’s pre-quarterfinals after Saturday’s rest day: Kerala (cluster I winners) vs Maharashtra (cluster II) at Coimbatore; Mizoram (cluster III) vs Goa (cluster IV) at Tiruchirapalli; Railways (cluster V) vs Manipur (cluster VI) at Tiruvallore; Haryana (cluster VII) vs Tamil Nadu (cluster VIII).
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels| Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks