Sesa Goa became the first team to qualify for the semifinals of the G.V. Raja all-India football tournament at the University stadium on Thursday.
Sesa defeated Travancore Titanium 3-1 in the last league match of pool ‘A’ and remained unbeaten to progress into the semifinal as the pool winner.
Titanium, which had to beat Sesa Goa by a huge margin to qualify, was weighed down by the sheer enormity of the uphill task. Though Titanium played well in patches the side wasn’t consistent enough to trouble its rival. Titanium’s pedestrian defence and another silly mistake from goalkeeper Joby Joseph hastened the defeat.
In the opening minutes, it was Titanium which probed the rival goal and both Ebin Rose and Usman had opportunities to put the local side ahead. However, Ebin’s header narrowly missed the far post and Usman shot straight at Vasco goalkeeper as Titanium frittered away the chances.
Sesa regrouped and slowly took control of the midfield. The Titanium goal fell at the first sign of danger. The defence failed to clear away a harmless freekick from the middle and Sidney Alfonoso managed to sneak the ball into the net in a goalmouth melee in the 23rd minute.
The second Goan goal was due to a mistake by the rival goalkeeper. Titanium ‘keeper’s feeble goal kick landed at the feet of Marcus Maschrenas. The entire Titanium defence had advanced outside the penalty box and when Marcus fired in his first timer, the goalkeeper himself was in no position to make the save.
However, Titanium played positively after the break. Cleetus strove manfully in the midfield and created a few chances for his strikers.
The sustained aggression from the home side yielded result when Diljith reduced the margin in the 66th minute. The move was initiated by Abdul Hakkim whose centre from the middle was arrowed in by Sugan Kumar and Diljith managed to squeeze the ball past the Sesa goalkeeper.
However, the joy was shortlived as Sesa scored the third goal with a well conceived move in the 73rd minute. Sherwub Lobo and Marcus Maschrenas did a one-two and advanced into the Titanium penalty box. Lezly Fernandez made his way into the box from right and received Marcus’s cross and scored.
Source: The Hindu
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Friday 5 February 2010, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.