AIFF Media Team

HYDERABAD: Bengal finished top of Group A of the 78th Senior Men’s National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy, while Jammu and Kashmir made the quarter-finals cut, after defeating Services and Rajasthan, respectively, at the Deccan Arena, on Monday, December 23, 2024. Manipur thrashed hosts Telangana 3-1 to finish second.

Meanwhile, Services also progress as the third team in Group A, having earned nine points from five games. Jammu and Kashmir end the group on seven points from five matches.

Bengal finish Group A on a high

Services 0
lost to
Bengal 1 (Basudeb Mandi 46’)

Bengal defeated Services to secure the top spot in Group A of the 2024-25 Santosh Trophy with a 1-0 win on Monday. The two teams went in at half-time without scoring any goals.

Basudeb Mandi (46’) produced a wonder-strike a minute after resumption of play in the second half, as he cut in from the left and found the top corner with a swerving shot.

The 32-time champions, who had already secured quarter-final qualification with back-to-back wins in their first three matches, thus stand at 13 points from five matches, with an impressive defensive record of four straight clean sheets and just one goal conceded in five matches.

Jammu and Kashmir rock Rajasthan's fortress

Jammu & Kashmir 1 (Adnan Ayub 74’)
defeated
Rajasthan 0

Jammu and Kashmir went into the match needing at least a draw to keep book their quarter-final spot, and managed to get all the three points in a match where they looked reasonably comfortable. Rajasthan needed to win and hope for a Manipur victory against Telangana.

The first real chance of the game fell to Mukesh Kumar of Rajasthan, who poked a low cross wide of an open goal from 10 yards in the 6th minute. It was as good as it got for them as Jammu and Kashmir slowly strangled them of possession and took control. In the 33rd minute, Aakif Javaid dribbled past a pair of defenders on the right, cut inside and unleashed a shot from the top of the box, that curved marginally wide. 

The deadlock was finally broken in the 74th minute thanks to Adnan Ayub's magic. The forward picked up a loose ball 35 yards from goal, drove towards the box and let fly with his left foot. A diving Gaurav Kumar Singh could do little to stop the ball's ultimate destination. Jammu and Kashmir registered a valuable win that took them to the quarterfinals. 

Manipur defeat hosts Telangana with a late flurry

Manipur 3 (Kangabam Lanngamba Singh 16’, Khullakpam Zahir Khan 85’, Shoraisham Sagar Singh 87’)
defeated
Telangana 1 (Syed Imtiyaz Ahmed 40’)

The campaign had proved to be an unhappy one for the hosts, who were out of contention for the knockouts even before the final round of fixtures had kicked off. Nonetheless, there remained the opportunity to put on a show against one of the powerhouses of Indian Football. 

Manipur were the ones who started brighter, their inventiveness on full display as they scored the opener from a smart corner routine. A short ball was picked up on the left, where Prabin Khangebam drove a low cross into the box. Kangabam Lammgamba Singh was at hand to poke it in instinctively and give Manipur the lead. 

Telangana had been down a goal multiple times in this tournament and to their credit they never looked deflated. They kept coming at Manipur and right before halftime had their just reward, when Mohammed Amaan's delightful spin and subsequent through ball was duly converted by Syed Imtiyaz Ahmed. To the shock of all Telangana were level.

Manipur were utterly dominant in the second half, in their search for a winner — one that would give them a better position on the table. A plethora of chances were created and spurned at regular intervals, their forwards seemingly incapable of finding the net. Finally, in the 85th minute, Khullakpam Zahir Khan found a way through, twisting and turning at the top of the box, and firing with his left foot into the bottom corner. Shoraisham Sagar Singh added a third minutes later to compound Telangana's agony and cement Manipur's win.