Preview: Kerala V/S Chhattisgarh

Kerala are set to face Chhattisgarh in their second match of Cluster I in the 2009 Santosh Trophy. The match is to take place at the Nehru Stadium, Coimbatore on 4:00 pm today.

A draw for Kerala in the final match of Cluster I will be enough for the team to qualify for the next round of the tournamnet. But their opponents Chhattisgarh have to work wonders inorder to reach the Pre-quarters of the National Tournament.

Kerala coach Sethumadhavan told the media that the Kerala team won't be complacent against today's opposite team. He also pointed out that Chhatisgarh were the better team when they had to settle for a draw against Chandigarh.

Kerala team will have no injury worries going into the second match of their campaign. The team physio Jiji George reported that striker KP Zubair who was substituted after a leg injury in the opening match has recovered and is fit to play. Midfielder CJ Renil, who had to return to Kerala after the death of his brother, will be back at Coimbatore today.

Kerala are set to employ the same tactics they worked out in the last match. The team will go out in a 4-4-2 formation with Zubair and Bineesh leading the attack. KT Navas is said to continue his services under the bar for Kerala.

This years Santosh Trophy has been a high scoring affair. So far, 85 goals have been scored in the 20 matches; that is an average of  4.25 goals a match. As many as six teams including Kerala have posted wins with five-goal plus margin. And one can expect more until the quarter finals!

From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Thursday 28 May 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.