Bengal overcame an indifferent start to blank Rajasthan 3-0 and enter the semifinals of the Santosh Trophy National Football Championship at the Kottappadi Football stadium here on Sunday.
Men from the state of West Bengal finished second in Group A, behind Kerala.
It met unexpected resistance from Rajasthan, which managed to keep a blank sheet in the first half. But Bengal came out blazing in the second half to break Rajasthan's resilience and notch up its third win.
Fardin Ali Molla (46', 60') and Sujit Singh (80') scored the goals.
Bangla earned numerous chances in the first half but its strikers misfired and squandered all of them.
The team scored from its first offensive move in the second half. The goal came through a penalty when Rajasthan defender Lakshya Dev Singh tripped Dilip Orawan inside the box. Fardin Ali Molla made no mistake from the spot kick to put Bengal ahead in the 46th minute. Bengal increased the lead in the 60th minute when Fardin volleyed home a rebound after Rajasthan goalkeeper Gajraj Singh blocked the first shot taken by Sujit Singh.
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However, Sujit Singh couldn't be denied a deserving goal when he crashed a left-footed volley from top of the box into the far post to complete the tally in the 80th minute.
Santosh Trophy: Who are the most successful teams in the tournament history?
West Bengal extended their record of winning the National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy for a record 33rd time; beating Kerala 1-0 in the final on Tuesday.
West Bengal has extended its sheer dominance in the National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy, winning the tournament for an unparalleled 33rd time. Robi Hansda's only goal in injury time snatched the trophy away from Kerala in the final at the GMC Balayogi Athletic Stadium on 31 December 2024.
The 84-year-old tournament is one of the most prestigious trophies in Indian football to decide the state-level champions. Since its inception in 1941, 78 editions have taken place until 2024, crowning 13 different states as champions.
West Bengal also hold the record for the most successive Santosh Trophy titles, having won six back-to-back editions between 1993 and 1999. Punjab is the second-most successful team with eight titles. Kerala and Services are third with seven Santosh Trophy titles each.
After missing out on the trophy after losing against Kerala on penalties in the 2021-22 Final, West Bengal has managed to avenge the loss in the 2024 Final. West Bengal is the state with the most trophies (33) and they also finished as runners-up for a record 14 times.
Here is the list of the most successful teams in the history of the National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy.
The most successful teams in the Santosh Trophy history
East Bengal FC will face Hyderabad FC in the first match of Group A in the Kalinga Super Cup 2024 on 9th January at the Kalinga Stadium. Hyderabad hasn't registered a victory in the 2023-24 ISL so far and is sitting at the bottom of the table after playing 11 games. Meanwhile, East Bengal has performed brilliantly defensively but has failed to score goals regularly. The Kolkata-based club is hanging 8th in the table with 2 victories, 5 draws, and 3 losses.
With both teams eyeing a victory in their first match, this encounter promises to be an exciting one. Carles Cuadrat would love to see his team scoring goals which he expected after seeing East Bengal score 5 against NorthEast. Since then, Cuadrad's side hasn't scored any goals and played three 0-0 draws.
On the other side, Hyderabad FC has failed to replicate what they did last season in the ISL. The fans are expecting to witness their favourite club fighting positively for the first time this season when they face the Red & Gold Brigade at the Kalinga Stadium on Tuesday.
Match Details:
East Bengal vs Hyderabad - Venue: Kalinga Stadium, Odisha Image - Wikipedia
Fixture: East Bengal vs Hyderabad: Kalinga Super Cup 2024
Where can we watch the East Bengal vs Hyderabad match?
All the matches of the Kalinga Super Cup 2024 including the East Bengal vs Hyderabad will be televised on Sports18 channel in India. Moreover, fans can watch the match on Jio Cinema as well.
The Red and Gold brigade has put in a lot of effort defensively and given a tough fight to their opponents but have missed lots of opportunities in front of the goal. Cuadrat will hope for his Brazilian striker Cleiton Silva to replicate his league form in the Kalinga Super Cup 2024. Cleiton has scored 5 goals in the league and can be the differencemaker against Hyderabad FC on Tuesday.
East Bengal FC players practicing ahead of the East Bengal vs Hyderabad Super Cup clash Image - East Bengal FC
Mandar Rao Desai might miss tomorrow's match. He didn't practice today. East Bengal would be expecting Nandha Kumar Sekar to create chances for the forwards. The 28-year-old creator has scored 2 goals and provided 3 assists in the league. Naorem MaheshSingh has also scored 2 goals in10 appearances in the league. Lalchungnunga and Naorem Mahesh will miss the game due to the call-up he received from the National Team.
East Bengal head coach Carles Cuadrat Image - East Bengal FC
Hyderabad FC
Hyderabad are struggling with financial issues. Their on-field and off-field problems have merged and it's not a positive atmosphere in the Nizam's camp right now. Hyderabad will miss the attacking power of Jonathan Moya. He left the club to join Liga Deportiva Alajuelense.
They will miss the likes of Nikhil Poojary who has been called up for the national team for the upcoming Asia Cup 2023. Hyderabad would like to register their first victory of the season but it wouldn't be easy against the defensively solid, East Bengal side.
The groupings for the 76th Senior Men's National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy and the Hero Senior Women's National Football Championships were conducted at the Football House in New Delhi on Friday, October 21, 2022, in a virtual draw ceremony that was attended by the State FAs.
Also present in the draw ceremony was AIFF Secretary General Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran, who joined virtually from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, along with representatives of the State FAs, who joined the meeting from their respective states.
Kerala lifted the prestigious 2021 Santosh Trophy beating heavyweights Bengal in a penalty shootout in the final. (Photo Credit: Twitter @pinarayivijayan)
The two senior national football championships will be played in a new format that will see the 36 states fight it out across six groups for a chance to make it to the final round.
AIFF Secretary General Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran said after the ceremony, "I am glad to see the enthusiasm and proactive participation of the state association representatives in the virtual draw ceremony for Santosh Trophy and National Women's Championships today. With the new competitive structure for the senior national championships, we can expect value addition in many aspects of the game at the State level."
The six group toppers, along with three best second-placed teams will qualify for the Final Rounds of the Senior Men's National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy, while six group toppers, and the four best second-placed teams will make it to the Final Rounds of the Senior Women's National Football Championship.
Railways and Services will get direct entry into the Senior Men's National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy Final Rounds, while Railways will get direct entry to the Senior Women's National Football Championship Final Round.
In the Final Round, the 12 best teams from across the country will be divided into two groups of six teams each, as they will subsequently play in a round robin format, before proceeding to the knockout rounds.
The AIFF and Saudi Arabia football federation signs a memorandum of understanding (Image-News 18)
The 36 State FAs were also invited to bid for the hosting rights of the Group Stages and the Final Rounds. As announced earlier, semi-finals and final of the 76th Senior Men's NFC for Santosh Trophy will be held in Saudi Arabia.
Groupings for the 76th Senior Men's NFC for Santosh Trophy:
Group I: Karnataka, Delhi, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Tripura, Leh & Ladakh.
West Bengal and Kerala will clash in the finals of the men's football tournament in the National Games 2022. West Bengal reached the final after defeating Services by a solitary goal while Kerala comfortably defeated their southern counterparts Karnataka in the semifinal on Sunday.
Coached by former India striker Biswajit Bhattacharya, West Bengal reached the final by defeating Services 1-0. Surajit Hansda put Bengal ahead in the first half of the match. That score stood till the end. West Bengal defeated Punjab 2-1 in the first match of the group league. After that, they won against Gujarat by a big margin of 3-1. West Bengal reached the semi-finals by winning two matches in a row, thrashing Karnataka 3-1 in the last match of the group league.
Although, Coach Biswajit Bhattacharya jumped into the National Games 2022 with high hopes of a bunch of bright new talented faces. From the beginning of the tournament, those new faces were perfect for West Bengal. Back-to-back wins from the very beginning of the tournament boosted the confidence of the boys severalfold. The Bengal boys maintained the dominance even in the semi-final match.
In Sunday's semi-final against Services, Bengal took the lead in 25 minutes of the match. Surajit Hansda scored the goal and that goal reached them into the final. The goal of the team is to return from Gujarat to become the champion in the national games 2022.
West Bengal will face Kerala in the final. Kerala defeated Karnataka in the first semi-final. Meanwhile, Surajit, the only goal scorer of the match, got seriously injured during the match. In the second half, he was pushed from behind and was immediately sent off the field. The situation was serious and he was taken to the hospital. His injury before the final has left the entire team worried.
On Monday, September 26, the Reserve Bank Employees Sports Club felicitated with a collection amount of Rupees 8 lakhs to Mr. Damodor Barik, who served the club as a Mali (Gardner) for nearly 25 years. Back on 31st March 2022, Mr. Barik took retirement from his work. So, the club as the association decided to felicitate him for his enormous contribution to the club.
Mr. Damodar Barik was senior Mali for the RBI Employees Sports Club. The club and the RBI organizations collected an amount of 8 lakhs which also includes the club's donation that was handed over to Mr. Barik. However, the total amount was divided and handed through many senior citizen schemes.
All the RBI employees including Secretary Mr. Samir Ghosh were present at the event. The event was held inside the club premises from 4 PM onwards. Moreover, RBI sports club secretary, Mr. Partha Pratim Roy, and RBI Kolkata Secretary Mr. Srimanta Mitra also attended the event.
Ex-cricketer and Employee Mr. Satyendra Singh were also present on that day. Meanwhile, Abdul Monayem and many ex-footballers like Nasir Ahmed, Falguni Dutta, and many more also attended the event.
Damodar Barik was the Senior Gardner (Mali) of Reserve Bank Employees Sports Club
The Event invitation proposal which was sent to Mr. Barik on September 23
Mr. Damodar Barik was the Senior Gardner (Mali), who used to organize various programs throughout the year besides his work. He joined on July 1, 1997, as a jr. Gardner. Currently, he is 64 years old. He submitted a letter dated 31st December 2021 seeking voluntary retirement and appealing for lump-sum monetary assistance by which he can earn some amount periodically for his livelihood.
Considering his age and physical condition, Sports Club accepted his resignation letter. Moreover, they relieved him from his service on April 1, 2022.
In the tune of the golden tradition of standing beside Mali (Gardner) for monetary help, the club decided to the lump-sum amount. They requested their members, players, and retired colleagues to donate spontaneously an appropriate amount. Meanwhile, as a result, they collect around 8 lakhs which was handed over to Mr. Barik on Monday. The sports club and its organization thanked each and every one who donated to the noble cause.
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