Real Malabar FC’s 25-year-old midfielder P.P. Mohammed Safneed, who led Calicut University to the National inter-university title two years ago, is the lone new face in the Kerala football team for the Santosh Trophy’s final phase which begins in Arunachal Pradesh on February 21.
The Kerala Football Association (KFA) has made three changes to the team, which played the National championship’s preliminary phase in Goa in October, for the final phase. Navas Meeran, the KFA president, announced the team here on Wednesday evening.
“We had to leave out Bijesh Balan and K. Junain who are injured and have brought in Akhil J. Chandran, Gifty Gracious and Safneed,” said Satheevan Balan, the chief coach, who guided Kerala to the Santosh Trophy title in 2018.
The coach was keen on picking Sports Academy Tirur’s Muhammed Mahdi, who was adjudged as the best player of the recent Kerala Premier League in Kannur, but the midfielder had suffered an injury in the final and had to be ruled out.
“He would have been in the playing 11,” said Balan.
Balan feels Kerala, which is in Group ‘A’ with host Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Goa, Assam and Services, is in a tough pool.
“We are in a strong group. Since it is the host, Arunachal will have a strong team... they may even bring players from outside. Services is strong too... and as Meghalaya and Assam will be playing in almost home conditions, they will be tough too,” the chief coach told Sportstar.
“But the advantage is, four teams each from the two groups qualify for the next stage (quarterfinals) so we have to win at least two matches. It will be okay if we get a draw against some of the other teams.”
Kerala opens its campaign against Assam on February 21 and matches will be played on synthetic turf.
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