58th National Football Championship for LG Santosh Trophy, 2002 | Oct 17 - Nov 05, Imphal - Manipur
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Santosh Trophy News
Tamil Nadu book home ticket for Orissa; Goa dump Punjab
(The Sangai Express) 29 October 2002, 09:00 IST

Runners-up Goa and semi-finalists Tamil Nadu started their campaign in similar fashion at the 58th National Football Championship for the LG Santosh Trophy 2002 winning their respective quarter final league round matches'by an identical 2-1 margin.

Both Goa and Tamil Nadu also registered a come-from-behind win against Punjab and Orissa respectively at the Khuman Lampak Main stadium that alarmingly failed to attract the sports-crazy State fans for three quarter final matches other than the jam-packed October 26 fixtures that also featured the host State.

Goan striker Alvito D'Cunha netted the decisive goal in the 44th minute before being sent off after the interval for yelling at the referee using foul word. Punjab drew first blood through Parminder Singh in the 16th minute sending shock waves to their formidable rival.

However, their elation were cut short in the 42nd minute with Covan Lawrence converting into goal a corner kick from the right by Alvito. Trapping the ball inside the marked area, Covan strucked with the right foot to the keeper's left for the equaliser.

Even before Punjab had time to recover from the Covan goal, Alvito fired in from the top of the box on the run two minutes later. Jules Dias Alberto fed the scorer with a defence splitting through ball from near the centre.

After the change of ends, Punjab heaved a sign of relief when the ball hit the crossbar and went out off a scorching left-footed drive by Goa's Menino Fernandes.

Despite playing most of the second period with only ten men, Goa kept on pounding the opponent goal with raids from all sides. Savio Pareira, outsmarting two rival defender forayed deep into the danger zone but failed to guide his shot hitting straight at Punjab's Sumit Bali with a minute remaining from the final whistle in the group C clash.

Goa made a tactical move substituting Johny D'Cruz for skipper Denis Cabral during injury time. The hardworking Covan Lawrence of the winning team was adjudged as the Most Valuable Player of the Match.

Goa will take on Karnataka on October 30 to decide the winner of the group. Karnataka had defeated Punjab 2-0 in their first quarter final outing.

In the second ground, group D match between last year's semi finalists Tamil Nadu and Orissa, the latter took the lead with an opportunistic goal from Saroj Kanta Patnaik in the 19th minute.

Following a goalmouth scramble, Saroj, who was inches near the post tapped in on the left, to ruffle the Tamil Nadu net. Five minutes after conceding the goal, Tamil Nadu restored parity through P Muthu, who guided the ball on the right off a K Kulothungan pass from the left.

A penalty kick conversion by Muthu changed the scoreline in favor of Tamil Nadu in the 28th minute. Capitalizing on a defensive error Muthu dashed forward to collect a lose ball only to be hacked down on the turn by Orissa defender Subhendu Panda.

Muthu, later declared as the Most Valuable Player of the Match was presented with LG's vacuum cleaner. Orissa affected three changes to provide more thrust to their attacks but failed to pierce the Tamil Nadu defence, well marshalled by S Suresh, T Dhadeus, T Edwin Raj and F Jegan.

Most of their sojourns also fizzled before getting a chance to foray into the Tamil Nadu penalty area. Following their second consecutive defeat, Orissa is out of reckoning for the semi finals of the tournament being organized by All Manipur Football Association under the aegis of All India Football Federation.

Tamil Nadu will take on home favorite Manipur for the semi final berth on October 30.

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