AIFF Media Team
HYDERABAD: Bengal and Manipur shrugged off their rivals in contrasting styles to enter the semi-finals of the 78th National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy at the Deccan Arena on Thursday, December 26, 2024.
While 32-time champions Bengal erased a one-goal deficit to defeat Odisha 3-1 with consummate ease, Manipur found Delhi a hard nut to crack before coming up with a flurry of goals in the extra time to emerge the overall 5-2 winners. The regulation time ended in a 2-2 draw.
Bengal 3 (Narohari Shreshtha 45+2’, Robi Hansda 77’, Manotos Maji 90+2’)
beat
Odisha 1 (Rakesh Oram 25’)
West Bengal edged out Odisha 3-1 to qualify for the semi-finals of the 78th National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy 2024-25 at the Deccan Arena on Thursday, December 26, 2024.
Odisha had a bright start to the game as Rakesh Oram put them in the lead in the 25th minute. Bengal found the equaliser at the stroke of half time through Narohari Shrestha and struck twice more via Robi Hansda (70’) and substitute Manotos Maji (90+2’) to enter the semi-finals for the 52nd time.
Hansda's ninth goal of the campaign saw him pull further away in the goalscoring charts.
For record champions West Bengal, tackling adversity was the one challenge they did not expect from this game, against a team that had qualified for the knockouts by the skin of their teeth.
Yet, the underdogs became the second team to breach the Bengal defence in the Santosh Trophy this season, Rakesh Oram scoring the first goal of the day in the 25th minute to give them a shock lead through a header off a corner by Bikash Kumar Sahoo.
It wasn't just a shocker but also an eye-opener when Sanjoy Sen’s side had been controlling the game; even when the goal rang in, and to their credit they rolled on in the same way after. Odisha's luck finally gave out in the final minute of the first half when seasoned forward Shrestha drew them level with a firm right-footer.
The leveller was expected to change the mood of the game, and yet Odisha would not go away, carving out half chances aplenty early in the second half.
West Bengal for their part were profligate with the ball, and especially in the final third. It took the best out of their main man Hansda to give them the lead. The forward added his ninth goal to a brilliant Santosh Trophy campaign in the 77th minute. It was a measured left-footed half volley from top of the box after Shreshta headed it down for him. A deflated Odisha tried their best to get back in the game, but by now West Bengal had settled and held them an arm's length away.
A third goal by Maji deep in injury time off a counter-attack sealed the win, and ensured that West Bengal's quest for the thirty-third title rolls on.
Manipur 5 (LT Lowly 49, Shoraisham Sagar Singh 50’) (ET: Shunjanthan Ragui 97’, 105+5’, pen, Khullakpam Zahir Khan 107’)
beat
Delhi 2 (Jaideep Singh 10’, 65’, pen)
A brilliant second half comeback and subsequent extra time heroics from Shunjanthan Ragui sealed Manipur's berth in the semi-finals. The 2002-03 winners beat Delhi 5-2 in a high-scoring encounter after the regulation time ended in a 2-2 draw.
While Jaideep Singh scored both the goals for Delhi, Player of the Match Shunjanthan Ragui was Manipur’s star performer with two-extra time goals. LT Lowly, Sagar Singh and Khullakpam Zahir Khan were the other scorers for the winners, who made the semi-finals for the fifth time.
The opener arrived in favour of Delhi in the 10th minute, in a circuitous way, via route one. Lamlallian's free kick from the left was met by a weak punch from Salam Sanaton Singh in Manipur's goal. The ball flew straight up in the air, and forward Jaideep Singh, rushed in to connect on a free header into the goal.
The break for half time shifted the pendulum completely in the other direction. In a two-minute blitz early in the second half, substitute Shoraisham Sagar Singh seemed to have turned the game on its head. First, the forward's glancing header from a corner bounced off LT Lowly's thigh to draw them level in the 49th minute. And a minute later, Sagar produced a moment of magic to give them the lead.
Picking the ball on the right wing from a throw-in, Sagar drifted towards the corner of the box before letting fly. His effort curled and dipped over and under a flapping Vansh Kaushal to put Manipur in front.
Delhi drew level in the 65th minute, after Manipur gave away a penalty with a foul inside the box. Jaideep put the spot kick away calmly to grab his second of the game.
In the fourth minute of extra time, Manipur had the lead purely due to individual brilliance again. The ball, cleared off a corner, bounced in front of Shunjanthan Ragui at the top of the box. The defender displayed marvellous poise to adjust his feet and smack a volley straight into the roof of the net. Kaushal had no chance.
Ragui extended the lead with a coolly taken penalty right at the end of the first period of extra time, with Manipur set on their way to the next round. Delhi looked deflated and Manipur twisted the knife. Right at the start of the second period, Ragui was the centre of it again, his curled cross from the right expertly headed in by Zahir Khan to extend them into a three-goal lead.
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