It was a day when cubs became the Bengal Tigers.
By no stretch of imagination was Bengal the favourite for the 71st Santosh Trophy National Football championship.
It had a relatively young squad with no big stars. The triumphant Bengal team may pale in comparison with some of the Bengal sides that have won the Santosh Trophy in the past. But this team was efficient and thrived on teamwork to win the title for the 32nd time in history of the tournament.
Bengal scored just five goals but remarkably, it didn't concede a single goal in 600 minutes of open play in the competition. The credit for that should go to goalkeeper Sankar Roy and the defence. In the final, Liston Colaco — the biggest threat from Goa — was neutralised by the Bengal defence and the striker remained anonymous on the field after his initial flourish.
The Goans were backed by partisan crowd but the husky voice of a 56-year-old man, who stood at the sidelines giving instructions to the players, rose above the crowd’s noise to motive the Bengal players
Bengal coach Mridul Banjeree didn’t have many choices when he picked the squad for the Santosh Trophy. The big clubs refused to release the players, even those who were on the reserve list. The first choice striker Jithen Murmu who was originally named in the squad couldn’t make the trip as his club East Bengal wanted his services for the I-League.
Mridual was forced to field Manvir Singh, whom he had brought from Minerva FC to Mohammendan Sporting FC, as the lone striker. The coach pushed Moiranghthem Basanta Singh as withdrawn striker behind Manvir Singh. Fittingly, Moirangthem Basantha Singh was chosen as the best forward in the tournament.
Everything that Mridul tried worked in the tournament. Shaikam Ronald Singh, Manvir Singh and Basanta Singh proved to be the thorn in the flesh of rival defences.
However, Mridul picked captain Rana Gharami as his player of the tournament. Gharami was the key man in the defence. “He is a boy with a big heart. Previously, he was playing for a small club. I brought him to Mohammedans Sporting and made him the captain of the Santosh Trophy team.
“He showed maturity beyond his years. For me, he is the pick of the players from the team,” said Mridul. For 17 players in the squad, this year’s Santosh Trophy was the first tournament at senior level.
“I kept motivating the players telling them this is the biggest tournament in their career. The boy’s responded superbly,” he said.
The former coach of Mohammedans Sporting, Mridul said he supported All India Football Federation (AIFF) move to field five under-21 players in the squad. But the coach was unhappy with the cut-off year, “The AIFF said you should pick five under-21 players but they insisted on players born between 1st January 1997 and 31st December 1997.
“I had many talented under-19, under-17 players in Bengal to field but the restriction of 1997 really handcuffed me. In the end I had to pick up some players to make up the numbers. But to be honest the players I picked improved in the course of the tournament,” said Mridul.
The AFC-A license holder said that Santosh Trophy is still an important tournament. “It is a national tournament, an inter-state tournament. I believe it is a feeder of raw talent to Indian football. It is still an important tournament for players to catch the eye of selectors.
“After seeing the performance of my players in Santosh Trophy, many of the top clubs have approached them. So this tournament is still relevant for players and clubs,” he said.
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