Kerala state team for the Santosh Trophy National Football Championship 2010 is a blend of young blood and experience. The team will be captained by Jazeer Karnath and will be taken care by MM Jacob, the head coach and VP Shaji, his assistant.
The 20 member squad has 8 new names in it for the competition and has an average age of 25. Captain Jazeer Karnath of KSEB will be the oldest team member with an age of 35 followed by custodian Joby who is 31 years old.
The Team:
Goalkeepers: Joby Joseph (Thiruvananthapuram), Sarath K, Jinesh Thomas (Both Ernakulam)
Defenders: Jazeer Karnath, Sarath BT, Johnson N, Prince Poulose (All Thiruvananthapuram), Anas Edathodika (Malappuram), Justine Stephen (Idukki), Surjith VV (Ernakulam)
Midfielders: Sakeer MP, Bijesh Ben A, Sumesh N (All Ernakulam), Renil CJ, Martin John(Both Thiruvananthapuram)
Forwards: Mohammed Aslam AG, Rakesh K (Both Thiruvananthapuram), OK Javed(Malappuram), Jacken Sebastian (Ernakulam), Zubair KP (Kozhikode)
Coach: MM Jacob
Assistant Coach: VP Shaji
Manager: KA Vijayakumar (Alappuzha DFA)
Physio: Dr. Jiji George
Goal Keeper Sarath K, Surjith VV, BT Sharath, N Johnson, Anas Edathodika, Prince Poulose, N Sumesh and Rakesh K will be representing Kerala in the Santosh Trophy for the first time in their career. Surjith VV who made it into the final team for last edition also, had to stay away with an injury that time.
Jazeer Karnath will be playing his fifth Santosh Trophy this time, while the vice-captain Bijesh Ben will be taking part in his sixth tournament. The team has four outstation players in former Viva Kerala skipper MP Sakeer (Musli Power Churchill Brothers), Justin Stephen (Chirag United), Anas Edathodika (Mumbai FC) and Jacken Sebastian (McDowell's Mohun Bagan).
Results:
Cluster I: Karnataka 1–0 Meghalaya
Goals: Don Bosco (89')
Cluster II: Maharashtra 4–0 Chandigarh
Goals: Reuben D'Souza (35'), Surojit Bose (80', 89'), Alex Ambrose (87')
Cluster III: Andhra Pradesh 2–1 Tripura
Goals: Faijal (6'), W Vijay Kumar (10') - Liton Maujumdar (73')
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Friday 16 July 2010, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.
Comments · 3
Pointless tournament. Why do players like Sakeer bother with it? I-league players should save themselves for the real competition.
All professional players should be barred from playing in the National Santosh Trophy. Only young players, below the age of 23, or with a rider to include a maximum 3-4 players above the age of 23, alone be allowed to play in the National and international tournaments. Let's see then what happens to Indian Football.
Santosh trophy must be confined to U-22 players. Young players can shine.