Santosh Trophy 2024 – Manipur, Delhi, Railways secure berth in quarter finals

1 of 1

Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh), , Manipur, Delhi and Railways secured their places in the quarter-finals of the national football championship for Santosh Trophy 2024 at the Golden Jubilee Stadium here on Thursday. Six teams are in the race for two spots in the quarter-finals.
The bottom three teams – Mizoram, Maharashtra and Karnataka – will have to fight for the last spot in their respective last matches of the group on March 2.
Manipur maintained their lead at the top of the Group B table with a huge 4-1 win against Mizoram; They now top the group with 10 points. Meanwhile, both Delhi and Railways are now on seven points each and have thus sealed their place in the last eight. With four quarterfinalists already decided in Group A, only one knockout spot is left, which is Group A. B will be played between Mizoram (four points), Maharashtra (three points) and Karnataka (two points). Railways has gone ahead of Karnataka. Railways secured their qualification for the quarter-finals by defeating defending champions Karnataka 1-0. Confirmed. Subrata Murmu (53′) scored the only goal of the game in the second half to hand Karnataka a defeat, putting their quarter-final chances in serious jeopardy as they have managed only two points from four matches. Railways have secured a quarter-final ticket but will look to score maximum points in their last game against Mizoram for a better place in the group. The defending champions were desperate, needing three points and they also Played the same way. Coached by Ravi Babu Raju, who had led them to the title last season in Riyadh, they started the match with relentless attacks on the Railways defence. Forward Nikhil Raj Murugesh Kumar came very close to giving them the lead after the quarter-hour, He took advantage of some confusion within the Railways defense when he fired his shot at an empty goal, but his effort went wide of the post. Vineeth Venkatesh pounced on the rebound, but Railways goalkeeper Anupam Sinha made a save and a Point-blank save. The Railways defense continued its struggle to keep the score level, and shortly after the half-hour mark, defender Monish Majumdar showed great awareness to make back-to-back blocks, the first of six Yard box on a back-flick by Nikhil Raj from inside, and then a rebound effort by Vishal R. Goalkeeper Sinha made a long dive which was spilled by a flurry of heads as Subrata Murmu ran towards the ball, taking the ball past Karnataka’s center -Back Prabin dodged Tigga and then proceeded to turn him outside and then inside before flicking. The ball went into the goal with the outside of his boot. In the final minutes, captain Gautam Kujur had to be stretchered off as he was in a bad position in the tackle, but goalkeeper Sinha made a save in injury time to score a run for the team. .Karnataka substitute D. Sheltohan Paul fired a strike from long range as Sinha backed away and hit the ball over the crossbar. However, Sinha himself hit the post in the process.Manipur book quarter-final placeManipur book place in Santosh Trophy 2023-24 quarter-finals with a 4-1 win against Mizoram at the Golden Jubilee Stadium.Manipur For Philam Sanathoi Meitei scored two (35′, 90′), while Limajam Sangkar Singh (8′) and substitute Pebam Renedi Singh (56′) scored one each. Malsawmzuala Tlangte (84′) scored a goal for Mizoram at the end of the match, but Manipur had already taken a strong hold on the match. Thus, Manipur remains on top in Group B with 10 points from four matches. And his place in the top four in the standings is assured. A draw against Delhi in their last Group B match would be enough for them to secure the top spot. A last-minute strike sealed Delhi’s place. Delhi fought back to seal their place in the quarter-finals by defeating Maharashtra 3-2 in an up-and-down game at the Golden Jubilee Stadium.–IANS

read this also – Click to read the news of your state/city before the newspaper.