A bitter-sweet experience

Over the last two years, the Tamil Nadu football team has dispelled some of the gloom that has traditionally hung over its campaigns in the Santosh Trophy. Consecutive semifinal appearances seem like more one swallow in summer, but viewed in the context of Tamil Nadu's past record (one final appearance in 1972-73 since the tournament's inception in 1941-42) and the far greater attraction that cricket holds in these parts, one begins to understand the scale and the difficulty of the accomplishment.

Tamil Nadu's run to the semifinal of the last edition booked it a place in the quarterfinal league this time around, where it was grouped with the likes of Mizoram, Delhi and host Bengal. The advantage afforded by the circumvention of the qualifying rounds was off-set by the high profile of the adversaries that awaited.

CONVINCING WIN

Tamil Nadu kicked off with a convincing win against Mizoram, with C.S. Sabeeth and R. Rajesh finding the net. The match against Delhi proved to be a little trickier and Tamil Nadu had to rely on M. Rajesh's late strike for a crucial draw, for next up were title favourites, Bengal.

The 2-1 win over the eventual champions that booked a spot in the semis was Tamil Nadu's best display in the tournament. V. Soundararajan, Coach of the Tamil Nadu team, said the win took some sting out of the subsequent loss to Punjab in the semifinal, a view that his deputy V. Robin Charles Raja agrees with.

“Coming from behind to defeat Bengal at home was very satisfying. They have a phenomenal record (30 titles and 42 final appearances) in the tournament and at times we out-classed them comfortably. The loss to Punjab was difficult to take. It could have gone either way, with Pradeep's miss coming at a crucial juncture. The match was even at that stage,” he says.

Instead Tamil Nadu ended up conceding three, two of which were due to massive defensive errors. "D. Ravanan, who had a solid tournament till then, made a big mistake. He is an I-league player and it can happen to the best. The defence just collapsed."

Several positives emerged from the bitter-sweet campaign however, including the coming-of-age of a few youngsters. R. Murugappan, a third-year engineering student from Madurai, scored in the 2-1 win over Bengal, and was generally impressive through the tournament, according to Robin.

“Nineteen-year-old Murugappan had a good tournament and he has already received offers from the likes of Air India. The left-winger played without inhibitions and in the game against Bengal, he completely out-played the opponents.”

Riju enhanced the reputation that he had made for himself in the previous edition of the Santosh Trophy, and left an anecdotal influence on the outcome of the tournament. “Riju was in good form as well. The goal against Bengal, when he rounded the keeper and slotted it home, may have won Bengal the trophy. The 'keeper was dropped and Abhra Mondal who stepped in, proceeded to shut Goa out in the penalty shoot-out in the next match (semifinal),” says Robin.

The results across two editions of the Santosh Trophy have been consistent, but what is surely a sign of progress is the far greater encumbrance that the team had to deal with in the latest campaign.

"In terms of quality, we were possibly a little worse off when compared to the team that we had for the last edition. A lot of the I-league players decided to skip the tournament and some of the I-league players were with the Indian camp in Portugal. But what we lost in terms of quality, we made up with discipline, commitment and team spirit. They bonded well as a unit and the average age of the team is 24-25.

We had nine fresh faces playing in the Santosh trophy for the first time. Except for the ones who have played in the I-league, the team was not used to playing on artificial turf. And the Nivea Radian ball took some getting used to as well. “Most of all, we had to play matches almost every alternate day. Perhaps with a day or two of rest, we might have pulled it off,” says Robin.

In what generally affirmed the spirit of the tournament shorn of its top-stars, Mizoram played out a hard-fought draw with Delhi in the penultimate game of the quarterfinal league. The possibility that Mizoram, which by then was out of the tournament, would capitulate, allowing Delhi to progress at the expense of Tamil Nadu was on a few minds, but it did not transpire.

“Against Bengal, we played the best. We were technically very good and started with an eye on the other result (Mizoram vs. Delhi). A convenient result there would have knocked us out and there was a lot of speculation. Thankfully it didn't happen and I thought ‘Football is alive'.”