Members of the Services team celebrate their 3-2 win over Tamil Nadu in the Santosh Trophy final in Cuttack on Monday. —DC
Services are the new national football
champions. They held their nerve to defeat Tamil Nadu 3-2 in the final
of the 66th Santosh Trophy at the Barabati Stadium here on Monday. This
is Services’ second title, with their maiden championship coming in the
1960-61 season. Sanju Subba, Subrata Sarkar and V.V. Farhad scored for the champions while Santha Kumar and M. Ramesh managed to reduce the deficit for Tamil Nadu. The final was delayed by half-an-hour after unseasonal rains lashed Cuttack early in the evening which resulted in the pitch turning sluggish.
Services struck a psychological blow on Tamil Nadu by scoring the opener deep in first-half injury time. A lapse in concentration proved costly for TN. After receiving a pass with his back to the goal on the right, Services striker Sanju Subba didn’t waste any time to pull the trigger on the turn. While Sanju had a clear view of the target, TN goalkeeper Akhil Soman was unsighted by his defender K. Sathish.
Though the young custodian, leaping to his right, got a fingertip to the ball, he couldn’t stop it from going in. The goalie’s positioning wasn’t all right. Services doubled the lead early in the second half. It was all down to Akhil’s blunder this time. The Tamil Nadu custodian failed to collect Z.V. Horin’s low shot and Subrata Sarkar pounced on the rebound to make it 2-0.
Manipur’s third was also a gift from their opponents. TN centre-back K. Sathish, chasing a loose ball inside his area, failed to hold off Farhad. Akhil also unnecessarily left his line and was punished by Farhad whose effort rolled into an empty net. The third broke Tamil Nadu’s back.
Tamil Nadu took time to open up. Their first productive move came in the 22nd minute when striker U. Jayakumar dribbled his way on the left side and tried to slot the ball on the far side, but Manipur goalie A.K. Balwant pushed the shot wide.
With a minute left for the interval, midfielder L. Charles Anandraj came close for TN with an angled header off a corner. Once again Balwant was equal to the task.
Tamil Nadu launched a valiant comeback after falling 3-0 down. As a last throw of dice, TN coach Syed Sabir Pasha sent in forward M. Ramesh for Jayakumar. The move paid dividends as the stocky forward scored Tamil Nadu’s second in the dying minutes.
Earlier, Tamil Nadu had earned a lifeline when substitute Santha Kumar’s shot went in after a deflection from Manipur defender P.S. Sumesh in the 82nd minute. The winners received a cheque for Rs 5 lakh and the runners-up were richer by Rs3 lakh.
Result: Final: Services 3 (Subrata Sarkar 45+2, Subrata Sarkar 49, VV Farhad 67) bt Tamil Nadu 2 (Santha Kumar 82, M. Ramesh 89).
Sabir justifies late introduction of Ramesh
Tamil Nadu went down fighting against Services in the Santosh Trophy final. Not taking away anything from the champions, one felt that Tamil Nadu lost the plot. There was a tactical error that might have cost Tamil Nadu dearly.
The decision to send in striker M. Ramesh in the 78th minute stood out like a sore thumb. The experienced striker should have been sent in immediately after Tamil Nadu conceded their third goal in the 67th minute.
Defending his decision, TN coach Syed Sabir Pasha said: “Sending Ramesh early was a bit risky. Ramesh was initially my first change but I held him back after seeing my centre-half struggling for pace. So, I opted to go for midfielder L. Stegin for John Paul and then sent in L. Shanta Kumar for R. Nirmal Kumar. By strengthening the forward line, there was a risk of giving away a couple of more goals.”
But if that was the case, Sabir should have opted to make a triple-substitution. Ramesh scored in the dozen-odd minutes he was on the pitch. Who knows he might have equalised too if only he had a little more playing time. And, how does it matter losing by a 0-3 or a 0-6 margin? A loss is a loss, irrespective of the score-line.
Going by the instinctive decisions Sabir has been taking in this tournament, one might have thought that he would pull a rabbit from his hat and send in the rookie midfielder Amal Pai in place of an ineffective Charles Anandraj.
Sabir added that the sluggish condition robbed his team of the title. “The ground was in pathetic condition. My boys are not used to these conditions. Services are definitely strong in slippery outfield as they are physically stronger. If the ground was dry, the result might have been different,” he said. “It is disappointing to come this far and lose. In retrospection, I am proud of the way we played throughout the tournament.”
Meanwhile, Services coach Sajith Kumar was a contented man. “We have done it. It took a while coming but I am happy that we were able to pull it off. There were no individual heroes in my team; rather it was a complete team effort. I was a little worried in the dying minutes when Tamil Nadu launched a late rally,” added Sajith.