Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy: Kerala out
Kerala lost 2-0 to Goa in the final group match of Coca Cola Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy for Sub-Junior (Under-15) National Football Championship.
Kerala U15 Coach Fysal Bappu reacted saying “It was an even match but silly mistakes cost us the game. First goal was of a freekick conceeded when the Goalkeeper handled the ball outside the box and the second one was when a mis-kick gave away possession”.
Having lost the last two matches the Kerala team is out of the tournament.
On issue of over aged players coach said “This tournament is for school kids. We cant help it when they are made to play against college level players. Its going to benefit nobody”.
Mumbai Mirror had earlier reported about Maharashtra squad having college level players.
According to a well placed source in the local organizing committee (LOC), more than half of the Maharashtra squad is over-age.
According to Irenio Vaz, the current Mumbai University coach, two of the current squad players had come for inter-varsity trials recently. “I clearly remember Egypsio Noronha (KC College) and Curtis Nazareth (MMK College) had come for the trials and both were rejected,” claims Vaz.
Interestingly, striker Egypsio Noronha scored a hat-trick yesterday to take his overall goal tally to seven from three matches while Curtis Nazareth scored his first goal of the tournament. When questioned about his age and school, Noronha replied, “My age is 14 and I represent St Xavier’s (Fort).”
