Karnataka hammer Goa as Mizoram rout Odisha in Santosh Trophy

Day 4 of the tournament witnessed a goalfest in both games.

Karnataka opened their Santosh Trophy campaign on a high with a crushing 4-1 victory over Goa at the Howrah Stadium, Kolkata. They came from behind and scored four goals in the 2nd half to completely outclass their opponents.

After receiving a drubbing to Mizoram a few days back, Armando Colaco made four changes to his side and changed up the system in order to get a win in this vital game. Goa had a goal disallowed early on due to offside, but in the 4th minute, the real first chance fell to Karnataka’s Rajesh who was found free inside the box, but failed to convert from wide angle.

A few minutes later, Karnataka’s Sukesh Leon was brilliant found inside the box and his powerful header went inside the net, but was ruled out. Goa found some life and in the 11th minute, captain Victorino Fernandes made an excellent run through the left, but his shot went wheezing past the goal. Despite wasting some chances, Goa got a deserved lead in the 27th minute when an excellent cross from the left-wing found Kapil Hoble, whose diving header was too powerful for Shainkhan C.P.

Goa looked much more comfortable after the goal and kept attacking for another one, with a dangerous corner in the 35th minute finding a header which was cleared a few yards off the line. Beevan showed some sweet trickery four minutes later when he went past a few Karnataka defenders on the right and played it to Hoble, whose shot was blocked by the Karnataka’s defense to take them into the half-time break luckily only a goal down.

Karnataka started the 2nd half positive and got a big chance in the 47th minute when striker Liton Shil got past his man inside the box, but his shot went just past Goa keeper Agnelo Gomes. Karnataka kept pegging on and got their equalizer in the 53rd minute when captain Vignesh Gunashekar kept chasing after the ball and capitalized on Gomes’ horrible  error of judgment by nutmegging him and putting the ball into the back of the net.

Karnataka looked a different side and a few minutes later again found an opportunity when Solaimalai’s shot was saved brilliantly by Gomes, who quickly dived to his left to parry it out. Goa’s defense had absolutely gone to sleep and again in the 58th minute, Shil magnificently tricked his way past many defenders before taking a powerful volley which went just over the bar.

Goa attempted to attack but Karnataka made them pay by mounting a brilliant counter-attack in the 61st minute and Rajesh made a surging diagonal run from his own half and his terrific shot from outside the box surged into the net to give his side the lead. Goa almost answered back four minutes later through a corner, but Peter Carvalho shockingly put an open header over the post.

Armando Colaco’s side got two more glorious chances in the next few minutes, but nothing was going in for them at this point. But Karnataka wrapped up the game in the 69th minute when Rajesh showed great power to win the ball outside Goa’s box and sent in a dangerous ball, which was unfortunately put into his own net by Mathew Gonsalves.

Goa had an opportunity to get one back in the 75th minute when a brilliant pass from the right found Victorino Fernandes, who failed to convert an easy opportunity and shockingly put his shot wide of the mark. Karnataka had the opportunity to get one more in the 81st minute when Rajesh yet again tricked the defenders and took a shot from just outside the box which went wide of the mark.

Leon Augustine made an ambitious run forward three minutes and hit a powerful attempt at goal which rocketed just over the Goan goal-post. But Augustine did not miss in the 89th minute when he went breezing through the right-wing before taking a great low shot which was impossible to save for Gomes. Karnataka aimed to inflict further humiliation, but the game ended with the 4-1 scoreline as the mighty Karnataka begin their campaign with a bang!

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 Lalromawia scored another brace for the northeast state

Mizoram rout a hapless Odisha side 5-0 in their second match of the Santosh Trophy 2017-18 final round at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium, Kolkata on Thursday.

Midfielder Lalromawia scored yet another brace to guide his team to glory. The other goals were netted by Lalbiakhlua, Malsawmdawngliana and F. Lalrinpuia.

Odisha got the first goal scoring chance of the match in the 4th minute when skipper Arjun Nayak attempted a header from Karthikach Bhola’s corner. Unfortunately, the ball struck the crossbar and came back.

The phase between 20-25 minutes saw Mizoram squandering five genuine goal scoring opportunities. Lined up in a 4-3-3 formation, they constantly maintained the pressure inside the Odisha penalty box.

In the 34th minute, Zomuanpuia C found the back of the net but to his disappointment, the linesman awarded Odisha a free-kick as he handled the ball before scoring the goal. The deadlock finally broke in the 37th minute when Zomuanpuia headed the ball into the net from Lalrinpuia’s cross from the left.

Lalromawia increased the lead in the 41st minute after following a wonderful through ball down the middle from Lalnun Tluanga and comfortably slotted the ball home. The sides went into the break with the scoreboard flashing 2-0 in favour of Mizoram.

Lalsangzuala’s men started the second half with greater intensity and looked hungry for more goals. They were often seen changing their shape from 4-3-3 to 4-2-4 with Lalromawia moving further up in the attacking third.

Mizoram’s attacking mindset yielded them their third goal of the match. Lalromawia scored yet again to get his brace from Lalbiakhlua’s cross in the 59th minute.

Their lead further increased in the 73rd minute when Odisha’s goalkeeper Ejazuddin Khan made a blunder in front of the goal by coming out of his line. Malsawmdawngliana kept his composure and pushed the ball into an empty net.

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Mizoram hit the final nail in Odisha’s coffin in the 91stminute thanks to a strike from F. Lalrinpuia. They could have easily won this match by a bigger margin had their strikers been a little more clinical in front of the goal. Overall it was a shambolic performance from Odisha today.

Mizoram next face Punjab on 24th March, Saturday at Howrah Stadium and Odisha meet Karnataka on the same day at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium.