Source: Hueiyen News Service
Chennai, June 09 2009:
Last year's runners up Services will be seen in action once again in the 63rd National Football championship for Santosh Trophy as they face West Bengal, in the semi-finals, at Nehru Stadium, Chennai on Wednesday.
Services, has had a good run in the tournament and have lost one match to Goa.
They would have big task keeping in mind their key players performance.
Raleng who was the highest goal scorer in the previous edition hasn't been in the best of the form and Shaji too has been kept marked and as a result Services has failed to find the back of the net.
Both their victories have been a result of the penalties and against Bengal it will not be easy ride for them.
"Our team has shaped up well and in these two- three days break as we have worked on our mistakes.
We were not scoring goals and that was a cause of concern for the team.
But then we have won both the matches and that's what matters.
We will try our best not to commit the same mistakes in the semis.
Bengal is a good team and they have players representing the clubs and we will not leave their players unmarked and we will play our natural game," T V Ravi said.
Good news for Services is that they will have their regular custodian Robikanta Singh back in the squad.
In the last year's edition Services had defeated Bengal 4-1 in the semi-finals and the Bengal team is aware of it.
"Last year we lost by four goals to Services.
We have lot of junior players in team as compared to Services where there are player who have been playing for more than three years.
They are playing as a combined unit and they have good passing and running ability.
We have Lalampuia in our side and I would be counting on him to score in this crucial encounter.
Gautam Thakur will be missing the match as he is still recovering from the injury that he received in the first match.
Services skipper Shaji will be a big threat to us, as he has the ability to create chances and score goals, so we will keep him marked," Bengal coach Raghu Nandi said.
The match will kick off at 17:30 IST and will be telecasted live in Zee Sports and Ten Sports.