Santosh Trophy: Final hurdle for Goa and Services as both teams meet in summit clash

The two sides have met 11 times in the tournament, with Goa winning five times and the Services emerging victorious on three occasions. The remaining three ended in a draw

Services captain P Christopher Kamei and Goa captain Mohammed Ali. | Photo Credit: AIFF

The Goa team has attracted fervent support with its performance in this football-crazy state of Arunachal Pradesh, thousands of kilometres away from home. It will be counting on this fan factor to motivate itself against a competitive Services in the final of the 77th National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy. 

The title clash, at the Golden Jubilee Stadium here on Saturday, is expected to see a thrilling contest between former champions Services and Goa - both having overcome gritty opponents in Mizoram and Manipur. 

As it remains, the standard of the competition has been high, with most of the teams showing great competitive spirit with homegrown talents. 

The Goa squad is a composition of players harvested from clubs that play in the Second Division of the national league structure. Its comeback performance to tumultuous support against the efficiency and flair of Manipur, which led till late in injury-time in the semifinal, gave out a lot about Goa’s position as one of the most talented teams in the competition. 

This is underlined by the fact that five-time champion Goa has not tasted defeat in 11 outings so far and would be looking to make the most of this record when it makes its 14th appearance in the final.

Services also has a rich legacy in the competition and will aim for a seventh title, while making a 12th entry to the final. In the final, it will also have an opportunity to avenge the 2-1 defeat it suffered against Goa when the two met earlier in the group league stage. 

Head-to-Head record

Goa enjoys the edge on the overall count. The two sides have met 11 times in the tournament, with Goa winning five times and the Services emerging victorious on three occasions. The remaining three ended in a draw.

Passionate Fan Support

The acting Secretary General of AIFF (All India Football Federation), M. Satyanarayan, pointed out the fan support that has come up as a pleasant surprise for anyone visiting the picturesque Golden Jubilee Stadium, during the semifinals. “I was amazed to see the huge crowd in the semifinals despite the host team not making it to that stage. What was more encouraging was that there was sizeable support for Manipur (a neighbouring state), but there was equally big support for Goa. I think there would be hardly a few hundred Goans here, but the support the team got from the crowd is simply wonderful,” Satyanarayan said.

“It goes to show how knowledgeable and spirited the spectators are about supporting good football,” he added. 

Services has the benefit of retaining a greater portion of the squad together for a good part of the year, and its head coach M. Govindaraju Ramachandran feels this gives the side the cohesiveness to face any opponent. 

Acting Secretary General of AIFF, M. Satyanarayan (third from right) with the captains and coaches of the Services and Goa team ahead of the final. | Photo Credit: AIFF

“Mentally and physically, we are in a good place, [and] we are ready for the final. This is one of the biggest matches in the careers of these players. So, we will hope for the best result. Our boys have done well to come back after the earlier defeat, and I think we are in a better place to face them (Goa) now,” Ramachandran said on the eve of the match. 

Services will be missing its central defender Zothanpuia, who received a red card in the semifinal against Mizoram. “Our group game against Goa did not go in our favour, but we learned a lot from that. Because of that, we have now been able to turn our fortunes and reach the final,” he added.

What will be bothering Goa will be the lack of recovery time that the team will be getting after playing a gruelling semifinal against Manipur less than 48 hours ago. 

“Services are a good team, and we need to be at our best against them. But we are still unbeaten, and our boys don’t like to lose matches. Of course, winning and losing are all a part of the game, but let’s hope we are not going to lose in the final,” Goa head coach Charles Dias said. 

“It’s been a long time since we made the final of the Santosh Trophy. Now that we are finally here, winning is all that is on our minds. That will do a lot for football in Goa,” he added. 

The last time Goa reached the final was in 2017 when it lost 0-1 to Bengal. In terms of team selection, Dias will have a headache in finding apt replacements for defender Joseph Clemente and midfielder Dattaraj Gaonkar, who will be missing the match owing to suspension.