Jan Borge Poulsen, Jordan:

Detailed Match information are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com 2006 Asian Youth Championship - Special

2006 Asian Youth Championship - Group A: Kyrgyzstan 0-7 South Korea - Goals: 0-1,0-5 Sang-Ho Lee (6',63'), 0-2,0-4,0-6 Young-Ruk Shin (13',49',70'), 0-3 Stepan Miagkih (20', own Goal), 0-7 Hyun-Beom Park (84').
2006 Asian Youth Championship - Group C: North Korea 5-0 Iran - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Chol-Min Jong (4',10'), 3-0,4-0 Kum-Il Kim (25',47'), 5-0 Hung-Ryong Ri (77').
2006 Asian Youth Championship - Group C: Tajikistan 0-4 Japan - Goals: 0-1,0-2 Yasuhito Morishima (7',34'), 0-3 Yosuke Kashiwagi (57'), 0-4 Masato Morishige (68').
Detailed Match information are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com 2006 Asian Youth Championship - Special

Swambla Basumatary Gold Cup, Bongaigaon - Final: Assam State Electricity Board 1-0 All Moirang FA, Imphal - Goal: 1-0 Mani Kanta Brahma (63').
31st Gurdarshan Memorial Trophy - Round 2: Diamond Club, Kalka 0-4 BAM Khalsa College, Garhsankar
Mumbai Super Division: Dena Bank 3-1 Mumbai Port Trust

::: PIFA football camps a great success :::
Football training camps were organised by the Premier India Football Academy in India with BCSSA coaches.
PIFA organised 3 camps in Mumbai for children 8-18 years. The three venues were St Andrews at Bandra from October 15-18; The Retreat, Marve from October 19-23; & the Sharad Pawar International School, Pune from October 23-27.
The camp was conducted by the Bobby Charlton Soccer & Sports Academy from Manchester, England. Coaches Mathew Pearson and Peter Tickle were flown to India by PIFA to train 150 children with the use of special equipments in a fun and scientific way. The children got to train with Nike English Premier League balls.
Former India captain Godfrey Periera felicitated the winners at the St Andrews Camps. The Retreat camp was visited by Mahindra United, Head Coach U15 & U19 teams - Santosh Kashyap
A number of seats were allocated free of cost to the less privileged. five from Akansha, two from Magic Bus, six from St Andrews, and five selected by Maharashtra Herald.
Skills test were conducted at the 3 camps and the winners have been invited to Manchester for the BCSSA World Skills Final in July 2007. The unbroken record score is that of David Beckham's 1100 points.
The three winners were David Vaz (16) St Mary's ICSE with 600 points, Sumehr Gwalani (15) Bombay International School with 580 points and Amitesh Mukherjee (16) R.N Poddar with 750 points.

October 30

RESULTS & NEWS

2006 Asian Youth Championship - Group B: China 1-0 Australia - Goal: 1-0 Xu Deen (65').
2006 Asian Youth Championship - Group B: Thailand 2-1 United Arab Emirates - Goals: 1-0 Teerasil Dangda (47'), 1-1 Ibrahim Ali (89'), 2-1 Phonlawut Donchui (90'+).
2006 Asian Youth Championship - Group D: Iraq 2-2 Saudi Arabia - Goals: 0-1 Ahmad Kabee (9'), 1-1 Ala'a Khshen (27'), 1-2 Mohamed Al Sahlawi (52'), 2-2 Mohamed Halkard (82').
2006 Asian Youth Championship - Group D: Malaysia 1-2 Vietnam - Goals: 1-0 Baddrol Bakhtiar (11'), 1-1 Mohd Khyril Muhymeen Zambri (45'+), 1-2 Tinh Quang Nguyen (63').
Detailed Match information are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com 2006 Asian Youth Championship - Special

Calcutta Premier League: Mohun Bagan AC 2-0 Eastern Railway SC - Goals: 1-0 Ayan Chowdhury (27'), 2-0 Satyajit Bose (89').
MOHUN BAGAN: Sangram Mukherjee; Dulal Biswas, Eduardo Chacon Coelho Lacerda, Sanjeev Kumar Maria, Manas Das; Satyajit Bose, Dhanraj Ravanan, Chinmoy Sarkar, Subhas Chakraborty (56' Ndem A Guy Kiyeck Herve), Ayan Chowdhury, Dipendu Biswas.
EASTERN RAILWAY: Chinmoy Banerjee; Sanjit Dutta Bhowmick, Santanu Bit, Barun Kundu, Bijoy Das, Pervez Alam, Joydeep Bose, Bapin Bera, Mohammed Nadeem, Niladri Shekhar Chakraborty (56' Archisman Biswas), Samrat Roy Choudhuri (68' Saikat Mondal).
Chirag Man-of-the-Match: Ayan Chowdhury (Mohun Bagan).
REFEREE: Dilip Ghosh.

Mumbai Elite Division - Preliminary Group B: Western Railway 2-1 Bank of India - Goals: 1-0 Ruebin D'Souza (28'), 2-0 PV Vinoy (33'), 2-1 Prakash Jadhav (46').
WESTERN RAILWAY: Nithesh Thakur; Sumit Das, Prakash Patil, Jayesh Martin, Sajid Ansari, Anil Pawar (84' Prashanth Ahir), Gurunath Reddy, Pahari Singh (58' Suvendu Hui), Polly Cherian, PV Vinoy, Reuben D'Souza (75' Inam ul Haque).
BANK OF INDIA: Sanjeev Verma; Rajesh Chandran (44' Prakash Mehta), Amit Yadhav, Everisto Cardozo, Munir Sheikh, Shankar Thakur, Sanjay Hazare (74' Anton Saldanha), Shanawaz Ansari, Reegan Peetambaran, Akash Jadhav, Steven Gupta (42' Harish Bhoir).
YELLOW CARD: Poly Cherian (48' - Western Railway).
REFEREE: Camillo Mendis.
Pictures of the Western Railway vs Bank of India match >>click here

36th all-India Food Corporation of India Football Cup - Final: East Zone 2-0 North-East Zone
31st Gurdarshan Memorial Trophy - Round 1: DFA, Patiala 1-1,4-3 Muslim Club, Malerkotla [penalties]
31st Gurdarshan Memorial Trophy - Round 2: Derebal's FC, England 1-0 Gurdarshan Club, Nabha
Kerala State Under-17 Championship - Final: Ernakulam 1-1,5-4 Kozhikode [penalties]

::: AFC ask AIFF to identify two more states for Vision India project :::
UNI report: Besides Manipur and Delhi, the AIFF has been asked to identify two more states for the introduction of Vision India project, AFC General Secretary Dato Peter Velappan said in Bangalore today.
The Project is scheduled for introduction in Manipur with the kick off of Manipur State League from November 3 and Delhi will follow later.
Addressing a press conference, Velappan said the main purpose of the project was to attract and encouarage talented youth take up football in India.
Mr Velappan said the AIFF has been asked to conduct Football Festival for Boys under 12-13 age group and impart learning techniques so that they become qualified for Asian Youth Championship. These boys can also get qualified for FIFA Under-17 World Cup, he said.
Mr Velappan was of the opinion that the quality of players in Asian countries was improving and it had been evident in this year's Asian Youth Cup which began simultenously in Calcutta and Bangalore yesterday.
"Technically the quality of players is now much better then last year. Associations are taking football seriously and doing their best to improve the quality of players," he added.
"Within next five to 10 years more countries in Asia will certainly be in a position to compete in the International arena with full confidence." Replying to a question, he said the inclusion of Australia into Asia has been a welcome move since it gave good opportunity for Asian players to play with European players.
"Australia is planning to attract soccer players from European countries. This would give chance for more exposure to Asian players to improve," he said.
He said AIFF has been asked to restructure its way of funding the clubs.
Velappan said AIFF may start conducting Super League from next year to encourage football players in India.
"This is necessary and should be held soon since India cannot lose any more time in introducing professionalism into football," he added.

October 29

RESULTS & NEWS

2006 Asian Youth Championship - Group A: INDIA 1-1 Kyrgyzstan - Goals: 0-1 Ildar Amirov (44'), 1-1 Lal Kamal Bhowmick (70', Penalty).
The Indian youth team started their campaign in the AFC Youth Championship India 2006 with a disappointing draw against Kyrgyzstan at the Saltlake Stadium in Calcutta today. The young Indian players showed much determination and skill but their inability to cross the final hurdle deprived them of three deserving points. If the strikers had taken the golden opportunities which came their way during the match, India could have won the match by a margin of three or four goals. As the Indian strikers kept wasting their chances, it was the visitors who unexpectedly took the lead through a brilliant counter-attacking move which allowed Amirov to beat a hapless Shilton Paul in the dying minutes of the first half. Gobin Singh tried an acrobatic clearance on the right side of defence but failed to connect with the ball. This allowed Ablakimov to make a run down the left and pass it to Verevkin at the edge of the penalty box. Verevkin managed to evade Rakesh Masih and put the ball on a platter to his right for Amirov to score the opener. The Indians trudged back to the dressing room trailing by a goal with nothing to show for their hard work in the entire half.
The Indian coach replaced Lalramluaha with local boy Lal Kamal Bhowmick and the effects of the change were evident instantly. Lal Kamal Bhowmick came up with a stellar performance in the midfield which raised questions as to why he was absent from the starting line-up. Indian midfielders continued creating glorious opportunities for the strikers to capitalise on but Sushil Singh and Branco Cardozo only flattered to deceive. It was from such a move that a chance to equalise came India's way in the form of a penalty in the 70th minute when Branco Cardozo was brought down by the Kyrgyzstan skipper, Stepan Miagkih. There were appeals for a booking from the home crowd and the tackle certainly looked as if it deserved one but probably the fact that the defender was already on a yellow card prevented the referee from booking him again. The responsibility of converting the penalty fell on Lal Kamal Bhowmick. His shot into the right bottom corner brushed the goalkeeper's fingertips but the power on the shot enabled it to reach its mark. India looked rejuvenated after the goal but it was the same old story as the strikers kept missing simple chances. Man-of-the-Match Branco Cardozo was impressive up front, only his finishing was disappointing. Sushil Singh looked too slow and his anticipatory movements were totally absent. It certainly didn't help that the Kyrgyzstan goalkeeper was a formidable 197cm in height which made it virtually impossible for the Indians to head in the crosses. All in all, the performance today had both positives and negatives which probably cancelled out each other. The creativity was impressive and so was the determination but the form of the strikers will give the coach a few nightmares. India face Jordan on Tuesday in what may be the most important match of the group. India will certainly not like to leave it till the last group match against potential champions South Korea to try and secure a quarterfinal berth. However, an improvement is certainly necessary to make progress in this tournament.
INDIA: 1-Shilton Paul; 2-Gobin Moirangthem Singh, 3-Rakesh Masih, 16-Aibor Khongjee; 8-Thokchom Naoba Singh, 5-Zaidinmawia Hmar (Captain), 19-Poibang Pohshna, 6-Reisangmi Vasum (90+3' 25-Bimal Minz); 15-Lalramluaha (46' 7-Lal Kamal Bhowmick); 11-Branco Vincent Cardozo; 9-Sushil Kumar Singh.
KYRGYZSTAN: 1-Pavel Matiash; 13-Vladimir Kasian (77' 12-Artem Muladjanov), 4-Stepan Miagkih, 3-Faruh Abitov (52' 2-Mihail Biglak), 5-Davron Askarov; 14-Pavel Sidorenko, 7-Rustamjan Zakirov, 6-Sardorbek Askarov, 19-Roman Ablakimov (54' 9-Anton Zemlianuhin); 11-Ildar Amirov, 10-Vladimir Verevkin.
Man-of-the-Match: Branco Vincent Cardozo (India).
YELLOW CARDS: Gobin Moirangthem Singh (21'), Reisangmi Vasum (60', both India); Stepan Miagkih (35', Kyrgyzstan).
REFEREE: Mohsen Torky (Iran).
Detailed Match information are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com 2006 Asian Youth Championship - Special

PRESS CONFERENCE COMMENTS:
Islam Akhmedov, INDIA:

Zagid Valiev, Kyrgyzstan:

Detailed Match information are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com 2006 Asian Youth Championship - Special

2006 Asian Youth Championship - Group A: South Korea 3-0 Jordan - Goals: 1-0,3-0 Young-Sung Shim (14',61'), 2-0 Sang-Ho Lee (50').
SOUTH KOREA: 1-Su Huk Jo; 4-Jung-Hae Park (57' 8-Dong-Suk Kim), 5-Sung-Yueng Ki, 7-Jong-Jin Park (46' 9-Sang-Ho Lee), 10-Young-Sung Shim, 11-Joo-Ho Park, 14-Chung-Yong Lee, 17-Jin-Hyung Song (68' 21-Hyun-Seung Lee), 19-Young-Rok Shin, 20-Seung-Jin Bae, 22-Kwang-Hoon Shin.
JORDAN: 12-Salah Ms'Ad; 6-Anas Bani Yaseen, 7-Baha' Suleiman, 8-Abdallah Salim, 10-Ahmad Nofal (55' 3-Ibrahim Zawahreh), 13-Mohammad Al Basha, 14-Raed Fraeh, 15-Adnan Hasan, 19-Loiy Al Zaideh (65' 5-Bader Abu Salim), 21-Tariq Al Jumah, 25-Ala' Al Bashir (71' 17-Yahia Issa).
YELLOW CARDS: Raed Fraeh (43'), Tariq Al Jumah (86', both Jordan).
RED CARD: Mohammad Al Basha (49', Jordan).
REFEREE: Yuichi Nishimura (Japan).
Detailed Match information are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com 2006 Asian Youth Championship - Special

2006 Asian Youth Championship - Group C: Japan 2-0 North Korea - Goals: 1-0 Kazuhisa Kawahara (34'), 2-0 Yosuki Kashiwagi (62').
2006 Asian Youth Championship - Group C: Iran 3-1 Tajikistan - Goals: 0-1 Akhtam Khamrakulov (10'), 1-1 Shahram Goudarzi (55'), 2-1,3-1 Mostafa Chatrabgoon (60',81').
Detailed Match information are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com 2006 Asian Youth Championship - Special

Mumbai Elite Division - Preliminary Group A: Central Railway 3-0 Indian Navy - Goals: 1-0 Kasif Jamal (7'), 2-0 Aziz Qureshi (72'), 3-0 Siddarth Kamat (90').
CENTRAL RAILWAY: Raghuvir Khanolkar; Douzy Goudinho, Sagar Amin, Revelino Fernandes, Agnelo Fernandes, Altaf Khan (73' Siddarth Kamath), Dennis George, Shanta Kumar P, Pankaj Ravware (63' Aziz Qureshi), Kasif Jamal (79' Asif Jamal), Soccor Velho.
INDIAN NAVY: SVV Suku; Ramesh Kumar (31' Samson Anthony), PS Sumesh, V Venugopal, VS Avilash, CT Seejith, Mukesh Kumar, PJ Jerry, A Bhandari, Raju Gurung, S Hoakip (77' Aslam Ekka).
YELLOW CARDS: Kasif Jamal (48'), Siddarth Kamat (76', both Central Railway).
REFEREE: Shirzad Bathena.

October 28

RESULTS & NEWS

::: IndianFootball.Com "Asian Youth Cup 2006" Special :::
The IndianFootball.Com "Asian Youth Cup 2006" Special on the Future Stars of Asian football in India is now online!
To go to the >>IndianFootball.Com Asian Youth Championship 2006 - Special

29th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (U16) - Final: Mizoram 0-3 West Bengal - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Ajay Mullick (57',61'), 3-0 Sanath Dhali (63').
The Bengal U16 boys won their 11th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy in convincing fashion! Bengal scored 28 goals in five matches beating Mizoram 3-0 in the final, who had beaten them in the final of the last couple of years.
YELLOW CARDS: C Lalmalsawma (50'), Lalhlimpuia (71', both Mizoram); Ajay Mullick (27', West Bengal).
RED CARDS: C Lalmalsawma (85', Mizoram), Avijit Mondal (85', West Bengal).
REFEREE: Egidio D'Costa (Goa).

7th NSF Martyr Trophy - Final: New Reserve YO 0-0,1-3 Naga Boys Club [penalties]

Calcutta Premier League: East Bengal Club 1-0 George Telegraph SC - Goal: 1-0 Alvito D'Cunha (2').
EAST BENGAL: Rajat Ghosh Dastidar, Vincent Brice Pires (61' Syed Rahim Nabi), Gurpreet Singh, Luiz Octavio Alvez de Souza, Debabrata Roy, Sasthi Duley, Dipankar Roy, Chandan Das (63' Bibiano Fernandes), Alvito D'Cunha, Marcio Fernandes Tomaz, Freddy Mascarenhas (73' Gouranga Biswas).
GEORGE TELEGRAPH: Swarup Das, Mohan Chakraborty (10' Sanjoy Mallick), Shyam Mondal (Gour Naskar), Dipak Singh, Manik Barman, Achinta Saha (Shubho Kumar), Amit Biswas, Ashim Das, Goutam Thakur, Yousuf Ibrahim Tijani, Bolwe Mputu.
Chirag Man-of-the-Match: Alvito D'Cunha (East Bengal Club).
REFEREE: Subrata Das.

::: Litmus test for INDIA :::
The Asian Youth Championships is a litmus test for INDIA on and off the field. Off the field the tournament, which is the biggest assignment for India on the Asian stage, is a test run for bigger things which could come in the future. The AIFF is considering to contest the hosting of the 2011 Asia Cup if the tournament is organised in a proper way.
On the field the hopes are on the INDIA U20 boys to make it to the knockout stage from a tough and tricky Group A. Defending champions South Korea are the big favourites to win Group A and India hope to join the Koreans on their way into the quarterfinals. To achieve this India would have to get past Kyrgyzstan and Jordan. The central Asians are an unknown lot while the Jordanians have a team of well build players, who could cause problems.
Coach Islam Akhmedov believes that the current squad is stronger then his talented U20 squad from 2002, which had made it to the AFC U20 Cup quarterfinals. Akhmedov also thinks that the exposure his boys received over the year, playing in the AFC Challenge Cup, the South Asian Games and the exposure trip to Laos has enabled them to gel well into a well oiled unit. But Akhmedov will not be able to go with his best squad into the tournament. Talented striker Vimal Pariyar is out of the whole tournament injured, while another talented striker Sushil Kumar Singh is not fully fit.
Akhmedov believes winning the opening match against Kyrgyzstan could open the way for more during the tournament. Be it the AIFF president Das Munshi or other officials, the hope is that the INDIA U20 boys get to the quarterfinals. But some will surely be dreaming like the fans that INDIA U20 make it to the semifinals and achieve the unbelievable, making it to the FIFA U20 World Cup next summer in Canada. This could be the boast that Indian football needs for the short and midterm.
Let the tournament begin...

The Head Coaches of the Calcutta-based Group A and B youth national teams gave a glimpse of their plans and expectations in the AFC Youth Championship India 2006 at a press conference at 'The Park Hotel' today.
To know what the coaches had to say, go to the >>IndianFootball.Com Asian Youth Championship 2006 - Special

::: BBC South Asia story on East Bengal's Brazilian coach :::
A number of our site visitors have send us the following link, so we thought we should tell you all about it!
The BBC South Asia has done an interesting story on East Bengal's Brazilian coach on his ideas for football development in India under the title "Brazilian flair hits Indian football".
to go to the BBC South Asia article >>Brazilian flair hits Indian football

October 27

RESULTS & NEWS

::: Zee Sports will telecast AFC Youth Championship Live :::
Zee Sports, the first Indian private sports channel and the AIFF television partner, will produce and telecast the AFC Youth Championship from Calcutta and Bangalore starting October 29 to November 12, 2006. Zee Sports is the host broadcaster for the entire Asian region for the event and the feed will be going out to 25 Asian countries.
Two-world class production units will be working simultaneously in Calcutta and Bangalore to produce the telecast for the AFC Youth Championship, which is the biggest continental championship ever to be held on Indian soil.
The AFC Youth Championship is held every two years and is open to players under the age of 19. The future stars of Asian football will be playing in this tournament and most of them will in all likelihood represent their countries in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This tournament also acts as a qualifying tournament for the FIFA U20 World Cup. The top four sides in the AFC Youth Championship will advance to the FIFA U20 World Cup to be played in Canada from June 30 to July 22, 2007. South Korea claimed the AFC Youth Championship crown in 2004 with a 2-0 win over China in Kuala Lumpur. Countries competing in this edition of championship are defending champions South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Jordan, China, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Australia, Japan, North Korea, Iran, Tajikistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Vietnam and hosts India.

::: PK Banerjee stable :::
The condition of PK Banerjee, who is in a Calcutta nursing home, has improved. PK Banerjee received a visit from the AIFF president Priya Ranjan Das Munshi and besides that from United SC coach Amal Dutta, himself a veteran of the Maidan.

::: Haryana to set up Football Academy :::
UNI report: The Haryana Government has decided to set up a football academy named after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi here to give a major impetus to this game which is immensely popular with the youth especially of the rural areas of the state. This was announced by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in the presence of the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil at the closing function of Santosh Trophy held in Gurgaon wednesday.
Mr Hooda said the academy would be set up over an area of 20 acres. World class level training would be imparted to the budding players to groom them to compete and excel in the national and international level.
Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who was the chief guest on the occasion, expressed the hope that the proposed Football Academy would be beneficial in producing outstanding sports persons not only for Haryana but also for the country.

::: Grand finale tomorrow between Naga Boys Club - NRYO :::
by Xavier Rutsa: A keen tussle on the cards in the grand finale of the 7th NSF Martyr Memorial Trophy, to be played between two times champions Naga Boys Club and last year runner-up New Reserve Youth Organization at 12.30 IST on Saturday at the local ground, Kohima. Naga Boys will be playing in the finals for third time, while NRYO will be in the finals for second time.
Out of the two, Naga Boys Club seem to have edge over their opponents New Reserve Youth Organization, with the Naga Boys Club having a much easier run to make to the finals, while NRYO had to faced some anxious moments on the way to finals. Naga Boys Club have played so far four matches, while NRYO played five matches in their journey for the summit clash, the teams heading to finals after winning the semifinals matches being decide by penalty shootout and sudden death rule.
Naga Boys Club Club so far has blasted 9 goals and conceded none, on other hand New Reserve Youth Organization so far netted four goals and conceded none. Four matches of NRYO victory came a 1-0 victory.
The forwards of Naga Boys Club like Visakholie, Ahezo Lipok could a play decisive role for their team's victory. Both the keeper's Vizovor (NBC) and Aguijin (NRYO) are the players to watch out as the custodian had so far outstanding run in the championships. Dominic and Mathew of Naga Boys Club could be play marker in the middle line, which can upset the apple cart of NRYO team. Of all the players in the finals, the men to watch from NRYO are defender Daniel, while David, Sanat and Sanjib can pulled up the surprise with their run-ball shot at goal mouth.
The chief guest and guest of honour will be TR Zeliang, MP Rajya Sabha and Zhaleo Rio, additional secretray PHED.
Meanwhile the ticket rate for the finals is Rs.20 per ticket, with five attractive Mobile (colour) handsets to be awarded to lucky spectator(s).

October 26

RESULTS & NEWS

::: IFC Interview Feature: Umesh Sood :::
IndianFootball.Com's Nitin Pant caught-up with Umesh Sood, who is the Chairman of the Vision India - Delhi region and is a former Delhi Soccer Association president, to talk about the football scenario in the capital and what plans he had in store for football in Delhi in his new position.
Click here to read the complete >>Umesh Sood interview

7th NSF Martyr Trophy - Semifinal: Dorians Dimapur 0-0,4-5 Naga Boys Club [penalties]
Mumbai Super Division: Rizvi Mumbai Muslims 1-1 Mumbai Port Trust

29th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (U16) - Semifinal: West Bengal 6-1 Karnataka - Goals: 1-0,5-0 Arijit Basak (2',75'), 2-0 Mithun Saha (15'), 3-0,4-0,6-1 Ajay Mullick (17',68',90+1'), 5-1 Sanju Kumar (87').
REFEREE: V Subramanian (Tamil Nadu).

::: Launch of MSL a moment of pride, says Velappan :::
AFC release: AFC General Secretary and Vision Asia Project Director Dato Peter Velappan has congratulated the All-Manipur FA and the AIFF on the forthcoming launch of the Manipur State League on November 3.
In his message, Velappan said: "Ever since the Vision Asia delegation visited Manipur in April 2005, the AFC has been highly impressed by the enthusiasm of the football fraternity of this football-loving state."
"The launch of the Manipur State League is a moment of pride for AMFA and AIFF, whom I congratulate for their tireless and unstinting efforts."
Dato Peter expressed his confidence that the league would be immensely successful as it has all the right ingredients. "The league will witness the best clubs in the State compete over a two-leg format, coached by qualified coaches and officiated by the best referees - the key ingredients of any successful football league."
"Extending the Club Regulations on a planned and agreed time-line each season, will ensure that the MSL Clubs continue to develop and expand their activities."
The Vision Asia Project Director reaffirmed AFC's support for AMFA's endeavours, saying, "AFC will continue its support to AMFA to ensure continued development in all areas of football in the long-term as FIFA and AFC place clubs at the centre of football development."
The Manipur State League, which will feature the top 12 clubs of the north-eastern state, was originally scheduled to kick off on November 4 but has had its launch date advanced by a day.

::: PK Banerjee hospitalised :::
Former Indian international and national coach PK Banerjee, who turned 70 few days ago, has been hospitalised after suffering an intracranial haemorrhage in the morning. The physicians have said that he is under observation and nothing concrete can be said before 72 hours.
Pradip Kumar Banerjee, popularly known as 'PK' in football circles, was a member of the gold medal winning Indian team at the 1962 Jakarta Asian Games. PK was the first footballer to win the Arjuna Award in 1961, won the Padmashri Award in 1990 and was named FIFA's Indian Footballer of the 20th Century.
PK never played for the big Maidan three in his career but coached both East Bengal and Mohun Bagan a number of times and even was the technical director of Mohammedan Sporting besides being coach and manager of the Indian national teams.

October 25

The IndianFootball.Com Team congratulate the Punjab Football Team on winning the title at the 61st Santosh Trophy!!!

61st Santosh Trophy - Final: Punjab 0-0,0-0,5-3 West Bengal [penalties] - Goals: none.
PENALTY SHOOTOUT: 1-0 Parveen Kumar (scores), 1-1 Dipendu Biswas (scores), 2-1 Jaspal Singh (scores), 2-2 Sanjeev Kumar Maria (scores), 3-2 Narinder Singh (scores), 3-2 Suman Datta (misses), 4-2 Daljit Singh (scores), 4-3 Shyam Mondal (scores), 5-3 Harpreet Singh (scores).
Punjab won the title at the 61st Santosh Trophy in a 5-3 penalty shootout win against record champions West Bengal at the Devi Lal Sports Complex in Gurgaon, Haryana. For Punjab it was the seventh overall title, but the first title after 19 years.
Both sides had their chances during the 120 minutes of the match but the goalkeepers on both sides, Punjab captain Th Kameshwar Singh and Bengal rookie Abhra Mondal, thwarted the numerous chances. Parveen Kumar for Punjab and Syed Rahim Nabi for Bengal could have been the match winners, but it was the day of the keepers.
Punjab scored a perfect five in the shootout with Parveen Kumar, Jaspal Singh, Narinder Singh, Daljit Singh and Harpreet Singh on target; while Bengal midfielder Suman Dutta was the unfortunate chap whose shot was blocked by Punjab keeper Th Kameshwar Singh. Dipendu Biswas, Sanjeev Kumar Maria and Shyam Mondal were successful for Bengal.
PUNJAB: 22-Th Kameshwar Singh, 2-Jaspal Singh, 4-Harpreet Singh, 3-Narinder Singh, 12-Daljit Singh, 13-Baldeep Singh, 7-Sukhjinder Singh (57' 15-Hardip Singh Saini), 6-Bimanyu Bimal Barua, ?-Shivraj Singh (74' ?-Gurwinder Singh), ?-Amrinder Singh (46' ?-Jaswinder Singh), 10-Parveen Kumar.
WEST BENGAL: ?-Abhra Mondal, 4-Shyam Mondal, 21-Habibur Rehman Mondal, 26-Sanjeev Kumar Maria, 29-Saumik Dey, 12-Tapan Maity (46' 25-Snehashish Chakraborty, 89' 20-Ratan Das), 14-Suman Dutta, 17-Avinash Thapa (112' 5-Madhusudan Majumdar), 19-Ashim Das, 23-Syed Rahim Nabi, 30-Dipendu Biswas.
YELLOW CARDS: Bimanyu Bimal Barua (66', Punjab); Sanjeev Kumar Maria (116', West Bengal).
REFEREE: Dinesh Nair (Gujarat).
ASSISTANT REFEREES: A Arjunan (Services), Deepak Bisht (Delhi).
FOURTH OFFICIAL: Naveen Jaydeep Sundi (Jharkhand).
Detailed Match information are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com SANTOSH TROPHY special

7th NSF Martyr Trophy - Semifinal: Puliebadze Club 0-0,2-3 New Reserve YO [penalties]

29th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (U16) - Semifinal: Mizoram 2-2,4-3 Arunachal Pradesh [penalties] - Goals: 1-0,2-2 Lalhimpuia (22',90'), 1-1 Pani Raju (23'), 1-2 Tai Bharat (62').
REFEREE: Saptam Kumar De (Jharkhand).

::: AIFF looks into nationality issue of PIOs :::
PTI report: The AIFF has taken up the issue of getting footballers of Indian origin to play for the country with the Law ministry, AIFF president Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi said in Calcutta.
"We are talking with the Law Ministry whether players of Indian origin who are now citizens of other countries can be given Indian citizenship so that they can play for the country and the modalities involved for that," Dasmunshi, who is also the Information and Broadcasting minister, told newsmen.
"We can plead the case strongly only if there is sufficient number of good players of Indian origin playing abroad," the AIFF president said.
He said that the Indian Constitution does not permit dual citizenship and as such amendments in the existing laws are necessary to allow such players to play for India.
He said that though this has become a practice in some African and other countries of late, but their constitutional provisions for citizenship are different from that of India.
Regarding the AIFF's negotiations with the Brazilian federation for football exchange between India and Brazil, Dasmunshi said that the outcome was positive. He, however, said that an announcement in this regard would be made later.

::: FCI Inter-Zonal Football Championship in Goa :::
The 36th FCI Inter-Zonal Football Championship will be at the Duler ground, Mapusa in Goa from tomorrow. Defending champions North Zone, runners-up North-East face East, South, West and Delhi Headquarters would take part in the five day event organised by the Food Corporation of India - West Zone.

October 24

RESULTS & NEWS

::: 61st Santosh Trophy final to kick-off earlier :::
The AIFF has fixed the kick-off time of the final of the 61st Santosh Trophy to 17.00 IST tomorrow. The final has been brought forward by two hours to accomodate the schedule of dignitaries and also be of convinience to the broadcasting Zee Sports. Earlier the semifinal dates and schedule had been changed due to Diwali celebrations.
"There was some confusion on whether the final would start at 5 pm, 4.45pm or 7 pm, but that has been settled now," an AIFF official said.

7th NSF Martyr Trophy - Quarterfinal: Naga Boys Club 2-0 Puomai SU

SOCCEREX NEWS: South Africa wins bid to host Soccerex London, Paris, Manchester, Los Angeles, Dubai... ......And now Soccerex in its 11th year moves to Johannesburg, South Africa! Hosts of the 2010 FIFA World CupTM will also be playing host to the next three editions of Soccerex and after a successful decade of bringing the football world together, Soccerex moves to their fourth continent - Africa. After months of bidding from a number of high profile destinations, Soccerex is proud to announce that the Gauteng province, Sandton, Johannesburg, will be the spectacular home of Soccerex 2007, November 25th-28th. The Gauteng Province is the economic hub of South Africa and is used by many multi-nationals as a gateway to Africa. The region is an economic giant that contributes 33% to the national GDP, and a staggering 10% of the African Continent's GDP. Gauteng province will be hosting the 2010 FIFA World CupTM opening ceremony, the final, and many matches in between. Soccerex clients will be showcasing their products and service to support the delivery of another successful FIFA World CupTM. The South African business market is eagerly anticipating arrival of the global football industry in what will be the biggest Soccerex ever staged. Legends of the game and dynamic leaders from the business world will mix on the Conference stage, in the Exhibition Hall and at the Football Festival. The social highlight of the event will be the "Soccerex for Africa" Gala Evening featuring stars of music, football and the Soccerex Merit Awards. In a press conference yesterday, Gauteng Premier Shilowa welcomed the awarding of Soccerex to the province. "The hosting of an event of the calibre of Soccerex in Gauteng will give us a further opportunity to position ourselves as a globally competitive city region and is in line with our efforts to promote the province as the preferred destination for investment, tourism and competitive sport." For more go to Soccerex website

::: INDIA probables for final 2007 Asia Cup qualifier named :::
The list of probables for the INDIA camp for the final 2007 Asia Cup qualifier against Yemen on November 15 and the following 2006 Doha Asian Games has been released by the AIFF. The camp would be held from November 4 in Goa. Some senior players like Shanmugam Venkatesh and Samir Naik have been left out of the camp to give some U23 boys big match experience. Sangram Mukherjee has been called to the camp as it might be that Sandip Nandy could be out do to the injury suffered at the Santosh Trophy. Climax Lawrence makes a comeback into the India camp after a longer gap due to injury.
INDIA Probables: Goalkeepers: Sandip Nandy, Subhashish Roy Chowdhury (both Mahindra United), Subrata Pal, Sangram Mukherjee (both Mohun Bagan AC). Defenders: Irungbam Surkumar Singh, Manju Nanjangud Shivananju, Naduparambil Pappachan Pradeep (all Mahindra United), Anupam Sarkar, Debabrata Roy (both East Bengal Club), Deepak Kumar Mondal, Sanjeev Kumar Maria (both Mohun Bagan AC), Narinder Singh (JCT Mills), Habibur Rehman Mondal (Mohammedan Sporting Club). Midfielders: Mehraj Din Wadoo, Subhas Chakraborty (both Mohun Bagan AC), Thokchom Bungo Singh, Chitrasen Chandam Singh (both Churchill Brothers SC), Steven Dias (Mahindra United), Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh (Sporting Clube de Goa), Climax Lawrence (Dempo SC), Renedy Singh (JCT Mills). Forwards: Baichung Bhutia, Sushil Kumar Singh (both Mohun Bagan AC), Syed Rahim Nabi (East Bengal Club), Sunil Chetri (JCT Mills), Tarif Ahmed (ONGC, Mumbai), Manjit Singh.
Officials: Chief Coach: Robert Douglas Houghton; Assistant Coach: Stanley Rozario; Goalkeeping Coach: Antonio Marcos Pacheco; Doctor: Dr. Manabendra Bhattacharya; Physical Trainer: Pradeep Dutta; Physiotherapist: Tapan Bhattacharya; Manager: Syed Nasir Ali.

::: AIFF reviews preparedness for AFC youth tourney :::
PTI report: The AIFF yesterday reviewed the preparedness ahead of the AFC Youth Championship hosted at Calcutta and Bangalore from October 29, as top teams started arriving in India.
The AIFF president Priya Ranjan Das Munshi met the Karnataka Chief Minister, HD Kumaraswamy and later discussed with officials on steps taken to provide accommodation, medical facilities and security for players and officials.
"India is hosting the championship for the first time," said Mr Das Munshi, also Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs, and added that if FIFA, the international governing body of the games, and AFC are satisfied with the organising ability of the host country they may award more international competitions to India.
Key teams including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and DPR Korea (North Korea) have already arrived here, he said.
The competition will be held from October 29 to November 12. Salt Lake stadium and Howrah Municipal Corporation stadium at Calcutta and Sree Kanteerava stadium and Bangalore football stadium here will be the venues.
India, which plays its matches in Calcutta, are clubbed with Korea Republic (South Korea), Kyrgyzstan and Jordan in Group A. Other teams taking part are China, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Australia (Group B) Japan, Iran, Tajikistan, DPR Korea (Group C), Iraq, Malaysia, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia (Group D).
The competition held every two years is open to players under the age of 19 and also acts as a qualifying tournament for the FIFA U-20 World Cup. The top four sides in the AFC Youth Championship will advance to the FIFA U-20 World Cup, to be held in Canada from June 30 to July 22 next year. South Korea claimed the AFC Youth Championship crown in 2004 with a 2-0 win over China in Kuala Lumpur.
Mr Das Munshi said the Indian players are fit. "None of the players are sick or indisposed."
Asked how AIFF expected to draw crowds to football matches in cricket-crazy India, he said he cannot accept that India is cricket-crazy, saying spectators come in large numbers only during one-day internationals involving India and other foreign teams, while they number 500 to 1000 during Ranji Trophy or Duleep Trophy final.
Whereas, he pointed out, the crowd turnout is between 80,000 to one lakh when semi-final and final of Federation Cup Football Championship takes place. "There is a mass acceptance for football," he said.

::: Redemption beckons Bengal, Punjab :::
PTI report: Bengal will aim to regain their pre-eminent position in Indian football while Punjab will look to redress their near two decade drought in the national football championship when the two teams face off in the Santosh Trophy final in Gurgaon on Wednesday. It will be Bengal's 40th entry into the title round, having walked away with the trophy on an incredible 29 occasions.
Considering that this is the 61st playing of the national championship, Bengal's domination of the domestic game is obvious for all to see.
Prasanta Banerjee's team will go all out to get their hands on the trophy for the first time since Chennai in 1998/99, when they demolished Goa 5-0 in the final. But this Bengal team has been pieced together largely with players from Calcutta's big three who are not used to playing alongside each other. Although they have shown improvement after a scratchy start.
On the other hand, Punjab have last tasted success in the championship in 1987-88 when they claimed their sixth title in Quilon defeating Kerala in the final. They have been runners-up on five other occasions but since their last success, they have reached the summit clash twice, only to be pipped at the post.
But the fact that 10 of Punjab's regular starting 11 play for JCT Mills, Phagwara, may benefit Jagir Singh as co-ordination and understanding will be crucial in the big game. BSF goalkeeper Kameshwar Singh is the only exception. They also have a good record in north India.
However, both teams are struggling with injuries.
Punjab's Manjeet Singh, who has drawn special praise from national coach Bob Houghton, has already gone home after suffering an ankle injury. He will be out of action for two weeks and would be protecting himself for international duty later this year. But Punjab showed that they can make light of the loss of their talisman when they beat a formidable Maharashtra side in the last four. Jaswinder Singh and the young Punjab University striker Amrinder Singh will be expected to step into the breach.
Baldeep Singh, their impressive playmaker is expected to start after shaking off a knock he took in the previous match while Jagir will hope Parveen Kumar can continue to find the back of the net. Their defence looks solid with Jaspal Singh, Narinder Singh, Daljit Singh and Harpreet Singh providing good cover for Kameshwar, while Bimanyu Barua, Sukhjinder Singh and Shivraj Singh would be expected to do the approach work in midfield.
Bengal have problems between the goalposts as their number one custodian Sandip Nandy is out of action with a dislocated collarbone. His replacement Kalyan Choubey injured his ankle in the semi-final and is racing against time to be fit for the summit clash. Bengal had to come through the shootout with rookie Abhra Mondal. The Punjab think-tank may tell their players to test the keeper at every opportunity to extract an error out of him. However, their defence, comprising of Sanjiv Maria, Habibur Rehman Mondal, Bijoy Bisfore and Shyam Mondal, has been up to the task so far.

October 23

RESULTS & NEWS

7th NSF Martyr Trophy - Quarterfinal: New Reserve YO 1-0 D'Block XI
7th NSF Martyr Trophy - Quarterfinal: Maram XI 1-4 Dorians Dimapur

29th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (U16) - Quarterfinal League Group B: Madhya Pradesh 0-3 Arunachal Pradesh - Goals: 0-1 Tai Bharat (42'), 0-2,0-3 Yirdo Zoyi (63',65').
29th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (U16) - Quarterfinal League Group B: West Bengal 6-0 Tamil Nadu - Goals: 1-0,5-0 Ajay Mullick (4',67'), 2-0,3-0,4-0 Sanath Dhali (16',52',60'), 6-0 Rudra Dhar (90').

::: Where is Dhorasoo going? :::
Paris St. Germain FC didn't want to keep him any longer due to differences with his coach, but at other clubs Vikash Dhorasoo is in high demand. But where will the PIO go? One thing for sure, Dhorasoo wants to continue his career outside his native France.
Dhorasoo is said to have attracted interest from Spanish side Atletico Madrid, Italians Torino Calcio, Scottish giants Glasgow Rangers and English Premiership side Bolton Wanderers. Insiders say Atletico Madrid is currently the frontrunner due to longterm injuries to their midfielders Martin Petrov und Maxi Rodriguez with Dhorasoo set to sign a short-term contract until the end of the season.

::: Naga lad Koso joins Churchill Brothers :::
by Xavier Rutsa: William Koso, the now former goalkeeper of Naga Boys Club who are currently playing in the 7th NSF Martyrs Memorial Trophy, is heading to Churchill Brothers SC in Goa for his new assignment.William, 19 will be formally reporting to Churchill Brothers on October 25 to start his new innings with an NFL club.
Speaking to newsmen prior to his departure William Koso said he would be playing for Churchill Brothers for one season and exuded confidence that he would be able to perform better in Goa. Starting his career as goalkeeper and being part of the first batch of Naga Boys trainees to be trained under Roko Angami, coach and president of Naga Boys Club, William, played for Naga Boys Club in various local football tournaments. He also has played for ASEB in Guwahati Super Division in 2004/05 and the Imphal East league for Yaiskul Club in August/September this year.
He also played for the Nagaland team in the various national tournaments, including the Santosh Trophy at Kerala in 2005.
His coach Roko Angam, who also is the president of Naga Boys Club said, "William is making the Nagas proud," and stated that William has got the ability of hard work, dedication and determination and hoped that he would carry the tempo while playing for new team Churchill Brothers. However he pointed out that the Naga Boys Club will be missing him, as the team will be playing their quarterfinal match against Poumai Students Union tomorrow without him.
Roko also advised William that he should carry the sportsman spirit and discipline and wished him a bright future with new mission.

::: Punjab to host National U19 - North Zone qualifiers :::
Punjab will host the 42nd Dr. BC Roy Trophy (under-19) - North Zone qualifiers from November 16 to 26 at the Yakir Hussain Stadium, Malerkotla (District Sangrur). In total eight states from the North Zone are taking part in the qualifiers. In Group A hosts Punjab face Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Chandigarh; while in Group B Uttaranchal, Jammu & Kashmir, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh will fight for the semifinal spots up for grabs. Only the champion of the North Zone qualifies for the national finals.

::: Punjab U19 trials :::
The Punjab FA will hold it's selection trials at 09.00 IST on October 28 at the Football Ground of the Guru Nanak College, Sukhchain Nagar in Phagwara. Eligible are only those boys who born on or after January 1, 1989 and they must bring with them their original birth certificates.

::: Delhi U19 trials :::
The Delhi SA will hold it's selection trials at 14.30 IST on October 25 at the Nehru Stadium in New Delhi. The players are asked to report to camp convenor DK Bose and SAI coach Nirmal Singh along with their original birth certificates.

::: AIFF reviews preparedness for AFC youth tourney :::
The 21st Junior Tamil Nadu football championship for the TP Ramasamy Pillai Cup will be held at the Government Higher Secondary School ground, Nilakottai in Dindigul district, from October 25 to November 5. A total of 25 District teams from across Tamil Nadu are taking part in the tournament, which gets underway with a tie between Tiruchi and Theni.

October 22

RESULTS & NEWS

TN Raghu from the Deccan Chronicle toured Northern Kerala earlier this month. He wrote some interesting articles on the Malappurram district which is totally football crazy. Enjoy these interesting articles on the football craze in this North Kerala district, a film about football interest there and the 7s game popularity.
Here to go to the Articles section

61st Santosh Trophy - Semifinal: Maharashtra 1-2 Punjab - Goals: 1-0 Abhishek Yadav (43'), 1-1 Baldeep Singh (60'), 1-2 Parveen Kumar (67').
MAHARASHTRA: 1-Subhasish Roy Chowdhury, 2-Jinto Jose, 3-Clifford Kilmo (68' ?-Othello Tabia), 19-Santosh Koli, 5-Rauf Sher Khan, 7-Steven Dias, 8-Hekmat Singh, 10-Paresh Shivalkar, 18-Kasif Jamal, 21-Adil Ansari, 15-Abhishek Yadav (88' ?-Abdul Jaffar).
PUNJAB: 22-Th Kameshwar Singh, 2-Jaspal Singh, 4-Harpreet Singh, 3-Narinder Singh, 12-Daljit Singh, 13-Baldeep Singh (69' ?-Jaswinder Singh), 7-Sukhjinder Singh (89' ?-Shivraj Singh), 6-Bimanyu Bimal Barua, ?-Yadwinder Singh, ?-Amrinder Singh (60' ?-Anwar), 10-Parveen Kumar.
YELLOW CARD: Hekmat Singh (27', Maharashtra).
REFEREE: Dinesh Nair (Gujarat).
ASSISTANT REFEREES: PK Bose (Madhya Pradesh), MK Roy (Assam).
FOURTH OFFICIAL: M Bhattacharya (West Bengal).
Detailed Match information are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com SANTOSH TROPHY special

61st Santosh Trophy - Semifinal: West Bengal 0-0,0-0,4-2 Kerala [penalties] - Goals: none.
PENALTY SHOOTOUT: 0-0 R Rajesh (misses), 1-0 Dipendu Biswas (scores), 1-0 Jaseer Karnath (misses), 2-0 Sanjeev Kumar Maria (scores), 2-1 M Lenal Thomas (scores), 3-1 Suman Dutta (scores), 3-2 NP Pradeep (scores), 4-2 Shyam Mondal (scores)
WEST BENGAL: 13-Kalyan Chaubey (71' ?-Abhra Mondal), 4-Shyam Mondal, 21-Habibur Rehman Mondal, 6-Bijay Basfore (46' 29-Saumik Dey), 26-Sanjeev Kumar Maria, 12-Tapan Maity, 14-Suman Dutta, 17-Avinash Thapa, 19-Ashim Das (105' 16-Gauranga Datta), 23-Syed Rahim Nabi, 30-Dipendu Biswas.
KERALA: 1-Jean Christian; 3-Abdul Basheer, 5-Jaseer Karnath, 6-KS Joby, 4-Dhanarajan R, 2-Naduparambil Pappachan Pradeep; 15-KM Abdul Naushad, 18-M Lenal Thomas, 17-MA Abdul Hakkim (68' ?-AG Mohammed Aslam), 9-T Asif Saheer (100' ?-PK Anil Kumar), 8-R Rajesh.
YELLOW CARD: Sanjeev Kumar Maria (82'), Tapan Maity (90+3', West Bengal).
REFEREE: Rizwan Ul Haq (Delhi).
ASSISTANT REFEREES: A Arjunan (Services), Deepak Bisht (Delhi).
FOURTH OFFICIAL: Naveen Jaydeep Sundi (Jharkhand).
Detailed Match information are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com SANTOSH TROPHY special

Mumbai Super Division: Mumbai Port Trust 2-0 Central Railway (Mumbai Division)

29th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (U16) - Quarterfinal League Group A: Chandigarh 0-7 Sikkim - Goals: 0-1 Zigmee Swangchuk (15'), 0-2,0-5 Bijendra Rai (65',87'), 0-3,0-4,0-7 Daivagya Sharma (67',72',90'), 0-6 Nimawangdhi Lepcha (89').
29th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (U16) - Quarterfinal League Group A: Karnataka 0-5 Mizoram - Goals: 0-1,0-2 R Malsawmtluanga (27',30'), 0-3,0-4 Lalhlimpuia (32',77'), 0-5 David Lalrinmuana (90').

::: FIFA president Sepp Blatter to visit India in first quarter of 2007 :::
It had been expected that the FIFA president Sepp Blatter would make a visit to India at the end of this month to officially open Football House in Dwarka, New Delhi and inaugurate the Asian Youth Championships: At least that is what Mr. Blatter had told IndianFootball.Com on July 8 in Berlin, but due to prior commitments he will not make it to south Asia.
In a letter addressed to the AIFF president Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, Mr. Blatter wrote:
"In fact, my duties until the end of the year 2006 will not give me the adequate time to schedule the visit to India at the level of my expectations, its importance in light of FIFA's and AFC's ambitions for football in your country as well as the perspectives of our vision as declared in my speech to the delegates of the FIFA Congress in Munich. Rest assured that this visit and the development of football in India remain at the top of my priorities."
Mr. Blatter has also invited a delegation from the AIFF to visit the FIFA Headquarters in Zurich in December 2006, to prepare for his visit to India.

::: We have to improve, admits Baichung :::
PTI report: Indian football's golden boy Baichung Bhutia on Sunday said the football team of the country would have to practice hard to play well throughout the 90-minute duration of a match instead of shining in patches.
Bhutia said coach Bob Houghton should be given at least two seasons to implement his strategy for improving the performance of the Indian team.
"Houghton should be given at least two years to spot the boys and implement his strategy," the nimble-footed striker told reporters in Siliguri.
When asked about the AFC Cup qualifier against Japan in which India conceded three goals and scored none, resulting in India's drop by seven places in FIFA ranking, Bhutia said "our players played well and could have dished out a better show" had the first goal been barred.
Referring to his three-match suspension for misconduct in a Super Division league match, Bhutia said, "I should not have acted like that. My misconduct could have influenced young players".
Bhutia was recently suspended for three league matches by IFA on October 11 for arguing with the referee and refusing to leave the field after being shown red card during a match against arch-rivals East Bengal. He was also handed out a fine of Rs 50,000 and would be automatically suspended for two matches of next year's Premier Division football league, if he failed to pay the amount.
"You will not find me doing like that in future", Bhutia reiterated referring to the September 26 incident.
To another query about involvement of politicians in soccer management, he said it was a good trend and would have no bad effect on the players.
"For each and every player the challenge is first to perform, in front of a sizeable crowd, as it was related to his existence," Bhutia said.
The ace striker said he was considering to start a football academy for improving Indian football.
On his current stint with Mohun Bagan, Bhutia said he was "very happy" with the club.

::: Govt to up cash prize for Kerala Santosh Trophy Team on win :::
UNI report: Kerala Sports and Youth Affairs Minister M Vijayakumar today said the government will enhance the cash prize to the Kerala football team if they won the ongoing Santhosh Trophy.
Talking to mediapersons in Thiruvananthapuram, he said all the 23 team members of the squad including coach, manager and doctor would get Rs 75,000 each instead of the present cash prize of Rs 50,000 each, if they won the prestigious title. Besides this, the team would also get prizes from various organisations, including the Sports Council.
On players' complaints about accommodation and other facilities, Mr Vijayakumar said the government would give priority to the players and ensure they got all the facilities in future.
The minister announced that from the next season the selection process and coaching would be held well ahead of the competition.
The government would provide full-fledged coaching to the team in next season to help it gain confidence, he added.

October 21

The IndianFootball.Com Team sends you all festive season greetings, no matter what you are celebrating, be it Deepawali, Diwali or Eid!!!

55th Bordoloi Trophy - Final: Assam Regimental Centre 0-1 Assam State Electricity Board - Goal: 0-1 Sanjiva Rongpi (70').

7th NSF Martyr Trophy - Pre-Quarterfinal: Ziekezou SC 0-4 Puomai SU
7th NSF Martyr Trophy - Quarterfinal: Puliebadze Club 1-0 Pusolieba YS

29th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (U16) - Quarterfinal League Group B: West Bengal 7-0 Madhya Pradesh - Goals: 1-0,2-0,3-0 Mithun Saha (18',19',22'), 4-0,7-0 Ajay Mullick (35',80'), 5-0 Joy Deb Haldar (50'), 6-0 Sanath Dhali (60').
29th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (U16) - Quarterfinal League Group B: Tamil Nadu 1-2 Arunachal Pradesh - Goals: 0-1 Tokotasaph (7'), 0-2 Pani Raju (73'), 1-2 R Balaji (86').

October 20

RESULTS & NEWS

55th Bordoloi Trophy - Final: Assam Regimental Centre - Assam State Electricity Board = match postponed to tomorrow due to heavy rains

7th NSF Martyr Trophy - Pre-Quarterfinal: New Reserve YO 1-0 Junior Naga Boys
7th NSF Martyr Trophy - Pre-Quarterfinal: Chumukedima SU 0-4 Naga Boys Club

29th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (U16) - Quarterfinal League Group A: Karnataka 2-1 Sikkim - Goals: 1-0 P Deepak (16'), 2-0 Robin Gurung (35', own Goal), 2-1 Ashish Chettri (Penalty).
29th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (U16) - Quarterfinal League Group A: Chandigarh 1-6 Mizoram - Goals: 0-1,0-2 Lianzova (11',29'), 0-3 Lalmuanpuia (54'), 0-4 R Malsawmtluanga (71'), 0-5 Malsawmfela (73'), 0-6 Lalhlimpuia (76'), 1-6 T.H. Jonychand Singh (88').

::: AFC Youth Championships - Calcutta matches at Saltlake Stadium & Howrah Stadium :::
The matches of the AFC Youth Championships to be hosted by India from October 29 to November 12 in Calcutta and Bangalore. The matches in Calcutta will be held at the Saltlake Stadium and Howrah Stadium. The Howrah Stadium has been chosen by the AFC above the Barasat Stadium, which the local organisers had preferred. In Bangalore the Sree Kanteerava Stadium and the Bangalore Football Stadium would host the matches. The Howrah Stadium and the Bangalore Football Stadium would only host two matches on the last day's of the group stage as the two matches in each group would kick-off simultaneously to decide the teams which move into the knockout stage.

::: 28 teams in the Goa Second Division :::
In total 28 teams will take part in the Goa Second Division with matches to be played at Tilak Maidan, Vasco; Duler Stadium, Mapusa; Navelim Ground; Agassaim Ground; Santa Cruz Ground; and Don Bosco Ground, Panjim. Matches will kick off at 16.00 IST. The league will be played on a zonal format with the top teams moving on.

61st Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group B: Kerala 2-1 Karnataka - Goals: 1-0 KS Joby (16'), 1-1 Jean Christian (35', own Goal), 2-1 NP Pradeep (85', Penalty).
KERALA: 1-Jean Christian; 3-Abdul Basheer, 5-Jaseer Karnath, 6-KS Joby, 4-Dhanarajan R, 2-Naduparambil Pappachan Pradeep; 15-KM Abdul Naushad (90' Denson Devadas), 18-M Lenal Thomas, 17-MA Abdul Hakkim (66' Ebin Rose), 9-T Asif Saheer, 11-M Mohammed Rafi (42' 8-R Rajesh).
KARNATAKA: N Venkatesh Sr, 2-Sunil Kumar, 3-Nanjangud Shivananju Manju, 5-G Chandrashekhar, 6-Raghuveer Singh, 7-J Muralidharan, (75' 14-Arun Kumar), 8-Xavier Vijayakumar, 14-Rajendra Prasad?-BV Pradeep, ?-Einstein Abraham Manual (33' ?-Sunil), 18-D Raju (58' 21-Gyan Moin Thapa).
YELLOW CARDS: Ebin Rose (67', Kerala); Sunil Kumar (63', Karnataka).
YELLOW-RED CARD: Ebin Rose (77', Kerala).
REFEREE: M Bhattacharya (West Bengal).
ASSISTANT REFEREES: F Fernandes (Goa), A Arjunan (Services).
FOURTH OFFICIAL: Rizwan Ul Haq (Delhi).
Detailed Match information are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com SANTOSH TROPHY special

61st Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group B: Maharashtra 1-0 Tamil Nadu - Goal: 1-0 Adil Ansari (66').
MAHARASHTRA: 1-Subhasish Roy Chowdhury, 2-Jinto Jose, 3-Clifford Kilmo, 19-Santosh Koli, 5-Rauf Sher Khan (90' ?-Othallo Tabia), 7-Steven Dias, 8-Hekmat Singh, 10-Paresh Shivalkar, 14-Sushanth Mathew, 21-Adil Ansari, 15-Abhishek Yadav (74' 18-Kasif Jamal).
TAMIL NADU: 1-VP Satish Kumar; 13-Dhanraj Ravanan, ?-J Anandavasan, 4-L Karthik, 3-N Mohan Raj, 6-L Johnny, 10-Kalia Kulothungan, 20-S Satish Kumar, 7-A Jestus Anthony (88' ?-James Singh), 9-Raman Vijayan (12-Jotin Singh), 14-K Arul Mani.
YELLOW CARDS: Subhasish Roy Chowdhury (82', Maharashtra); A Jestus Antony (74', Tamil Nadu).
REFEREE: PK Bose (Madhya Pradesh).
ASSISTANT REFEREES: Dinesh Nair (Gujarat), Naveen Jaydeep Sundi (Jharkhand).
FOURTH OFFICIAL: Abdul Salim (Delhi).
Detailed Match information are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com SANTOSH TROPHY special

28th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Final: Air-India 2-2,4-1 Army XI [penalties] - Goals: 1-0 Bashiree Mohammed Abbas (14'), 2-0 Samson Singh (58'), 2-1 Mohammed Ibrahim (61'), 2-2 Trinakalsu (67').

Captain Jintu Gogoi Vr C Memorial football Trophy, Dibrugarh - Final: Tinsukia Railway SC 2-1 Moran Town Club
Mumbai Super Division: Central Bank of India 4-0 Income Tax
7th NSF Martyr Trophy - Pre-Quarterfinal: Phouden YC, Manipur 1-2 D'Block XI
7th NSF Martyr Trophy - Pre-Quarterfinal: LSU Wokha 1-3 Dorians Dimapur

29th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (U16) - Quarterfinal League Group B: West Bengal 6-0 Arunachal Pradesh - Goals: 1-0 Jewel Raja (5'), 2-0,5-0 Ajay Mullick (8',53'), 3-0 Ananda Paul (29'), 4-0 Mithun Saha (35'), 6-0 NG Beirona (71').
29th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (U16) - Quarterfinal League Group B: Tamil Nadu 1-0 Madhya Pradesh - Goal: 1-0 A Reegan (44').

::: Hindustan Times NEXT School Soccer League'06 in Association with BOOST Chocoblast :::
Yet another exciting season of the Hindustan Times NEXT School Soccer league 06 got underway on October 16 at the Modern Barakhamba School.
With 12 top schools from Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon competing each other the league is the most definitive soccer league in Delhi and NCR. Twelve Teams are divided into four groups. Each team goes through a round robin format in their respective groups in home and away format with top 2 teams qualifying from each group for the Quarterfinals.
To promote football at the youngest level, the league has become an annual feature of the school calendar and is being held regularly for the past three years. The focus of the tournament is to develop the game in a more structured manner at the grass root level.
Hindustan Times NEXT - India's First Youth Newspaper has taken the initiative in sponsoring the tournament. Hindustan Times's association has taken the event to a new height. All kids are given kit & clothing for the tournament something that not even many senior teams had the privilege of. This year witnesses another brand coming on board to support the cause. BOOST has supported the event as an associate sponsor and official energy drink, further building its huge popularity amongst kids.
According to Anand Bhardwaj, Head of Marketing, HT, "Hindustan Times Next is proud to be the sponsor of such a well organized Soccer league, re-affirming its commitment to the overall development of the youth. We are sure the tournament will grow from strength to strength each year."
The organisers Simla Youngs ensure that the tournament is played in the best of the spirits by all participants. Tushar Dev, Director, Simla Youngs, was delighted to see the League get into its third year, and is of the strong belief that such endeavors do provide the nursery for budding talent, something sorely missed in Indian Soccer.
" 'Boost ChocoBlast' has come on board to support the HT School Soccer League as the Official energy drink. It is yet another initiative by Boost to support upcoming talent in sports and encourage winning performance. The association will not just stand the brand in good stead, but also play a vital role in the stamina and success of each of the players," said T.S.Dayanand, General Manager - Nutritionals, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare.
"Having nurtured and marketed the HT School Soccer League for the last three years, Creatigies feels privileged and happy to see companies and brands come forward to take up a cause, as well as gain from great brand association with the event. This year's World Cup Soccer has added an extra zing for both the little champions as well as for us organizing the league," said Navroze D. Dhondy, CEO Creatigies Communications, the marketing associates of the league.

October 18

RESULTS & NEWS

::: INDIA now 143rd in FIFA World Rankings :::
INDIA lost only one point in the FIFA World Rankings to now have 136 points, but lost seven places to now lie 143th amongst 205 ranked nations. With qualification matches on Africa and the Caribbean, those nations have made major jumps in the rankings while the Asian nations rather lost points in those. Elsewhere in Europe and Asia some nations gained points, while others lost some.
Within Asia INDIA moved-up a place to 24th out of 45 nations.

61st Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group A: Goa 2-2 Haryana - Goals: 0-1 Sandeep Malik (65'), 1-1 Freddy Mascarenhas (67'), 1-2 Sanjeev Yadav (75'), 2-2 Nicolas Borges (90').
GOA: 1-Luis Xavier Barreto, 4-Philip Gomes, 18-Valeriano Rebello, 6-Covan Lawrence, 2-Marcus Peixoto, 16-Sameer Naik (77' Remus Gomes), 14-Wilton Gomes, 7-Nicholas Rodrigues (69' 15-Clifford Miranda), 9-Peter Carvalho, 19-Anthony Pereira (?-Nicolas Borges), 10-Freddy Mascarenhas.
HARYANA: 1-Navjot Singh, 8-Pankaj Sura, 3-Pawan Kumar, 14-Sunil Mishra, 19-Amjad Ali Khan, 9-Sanjeev Yadav, 7-Habeeb Khan (79' 13-Pradeep Kumar), 4-Sandeep Malik, 10-Parveen Arora, 6-Manish Mathani, 5-Gurvinder Singh.
REFEREE: MK Roy (Assam).
Detailed Match information are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com SANTOSH TROPHY special

61st Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group A: Punjab 0-1 West Bengal - Goal: 0-1 Dipendu Biswas (57').
PUNJAB: 22-Th Kameshwar Singh, 2-Jaspal Singh, 4-Harpreet Singh, 3-Narinder Singh, 12-Daljit Singh, 13-Baldeep Singh, 7-Sukhjinder Singh, 15-Hardip Singh Saini, ?-Yadwinder Singh, ?-Jaswinder Singh (87' ?-Anwar Ali), 10-Parveen Kumar.
WEST BENGAL: 13-Kalyan Chaubey, 4-Shyam Mondal, 21-Habibur Rehman Mondal, 6-Bijay Basfore, 26-Sanjeev Kumar Maria, 12-Tapan Maity, 14-Suman Dutta, 17-Avinash Thapa, 19-Ashim Das, 23-Syed Rahim Nabi, 30-Dipendu Biswas.
YELLOW CARD: Daljit Singh (43', Punjab).
REFEREE: Dhanraj K More (Maharashtra).
Detailed Match information are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com SANTOSH TROPHY special

55th Bordoloi Trophy - Semifinal: Oil India Limited 0-3 Assam State Electricity Board - Goals: 0-1 Mani Kanta Brahma (16'), 0-2,0-3 Zimi Singh (67',88').
Mumbai Super Division: Central Railway (Mumbai Division) 3-0 Sea View SC
7th NSF Martyr Trophy - Pre-Quarterfinal: Maram XI 3-2 Tseminyu United XI
7th NSF Martyr Trophy - Pre-Quarterfinal: Pusolieba YS 2-1 New Market XI
28th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Semifinal: Army XI 2-2,1-0 GMHK Lions XI, NIGERIA [extratime] - Goals: Vijay Thapa (18'), 1-1 Nnajiuba Eze (28'), 2-1 Amar (4?'), 2-2 Subair Mulitala Ali (45+'), 3-2 MG Ramachandran (102').

29th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (U16) - Quarterfinal League Group A: Mizoram 2-0 Sikkim - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Lalhlimpuia (62',86').
29th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (U16) - Quarterfinal League Group A: Chandigarh 0-3 Karnataka - Goals: 1-0 Sanju Kumar (33'), 2-0 C Vignesh (55'), 3-0 P Deepak (58').

::: Colaco seeks new stars from Asian U-20 Championships :::
UNI report: AIFF General Secretary Alberto Colaco is hoping to see the advent of a host of new stars for India emerging from the Asian U-20 Championships commencing simultaneously at Calcutta and Bangalore from October 29. India U20 preparations for the AFC Youth Championships are going on in full swing in Kalyani under the able stewardship of Islam Akhmedov.
Talking to UNI, AIFF secretary Alberto Colaco said, "Preparations are on in full flow in Kalyani. I visited the camp today. I am very happy with the way things are going. The players looked fit and in form. The fact that they did well in the exposure trip showed on the side. But it's a tough tournament for the boys as all the premier youth sides of Asia are coming to compete here. But I hope that the team will do well," he said.
The India U20 team won both their matches against Lao PDR at Vienttiane. While they won 3-2 in the first match, they humbled the host 3-0 in the second.
India have prepared meticulously over the last year under veteran Uzbek coach Islam Akhmedov and looks ready to handle that extra bit of pressure which comes with playing on home soil.
Arguably, no other team has been put through the paces like the Indian U20s who have taken part in two major continental tournaments in the run-up to the AFC Youth Championship.
The first was the inaugural AFC Challenge Cup in which they held their own against senior teams from Afghanistan (2-0), Chinese Taipei (1-1) and the Philippines (0-0) before going down to Nepal 3-0 in the quarterfinals.
Up next for Akhmedov's lads was the SAF Games in Sri Lanka where they drew with Afghanistan (0-0) and Nepal (1-1) but defeated Bangladesh 2-1 to make the last four. They went down to Sri Lanka 7-6 on penalties and later lost the third-fourth place playoff to Nepal 2-0.
India know how it is to win this tournament as they were joint winners in 1974 (Bangkok) with Iran after the Final ended in a 2-2 deadlock (there was no extra-time or penalty kicks decider then).
But to repeat or go close to these performances, the hosts will have to pull up their socks as they are in a difficult Group A with defending champions Korea Republic, Central Asian debutants Kyrgyzstan and Jordan.
Colaco said, "I will not like to predict how far we will go in the tournament, but if we can get five-six quality players from the tournament we will be very pleased. The players are putting their best and the rest time will tell." He was pleased with the facilities provided at Kalyani. "The ground is excellent and the accomodation also very satisfactory." Colaco also informed that a team of AFC officials were also in Calcutta yesterday to supervise the preparations of the tournament that undergoes simultanmeously in Calcutta and Bangalore from October 29.
He said unseasonal rain was the only worry for the organisers.
The U20 team has some bright stars in Shilton Pal in Goal. Defenders Baldeep Singh (Punjab), Aibor Khongjee (Meghalaya), and Poibiang Pohshna( Meghalaya). Branco Vincent Cardozo (TFA), Ong Tshering Lepcha (Churchill Brothers) and Zaidinmawia Hmar (Mizoram, Captain), are the midfield marshalls, while Reisangmi Vasum (HAL), Beevan D'Mello (Goa) and Sushil Kumar Singh (Mohun Bagan) are the wrecker-in-chiefs upfront.

::: Santosh Trophy: Games on the sideline :::
PTI report: Haryana is holding the Santosh Trophy for the first time and learning the hard way about the difficulties in staging a football event of this magnitude.
The dressing room at the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex was found damaged on Tuesday and though the local organisers are not willing to shed too much light on the incidents, some sources point a suspicious finger towards the Karnataka team. They said the team, disappointed after their second successive loss in the quarterfinal league which ended their chances of making it to the last four, vented their frustration by damaging the dressing room.
"There is only minor damage but we have repaired it. It is best not to talk too much about this," Haryana Football Association Secretary Sunil Bharadwaj said. He, however, did not take any names as to who was responsible. The wash basins and bathroom fittings suffered the brunt of the damage, sources said.
"The room was in perfect shape before the Karnataka team went in, but the damage was noticed once they left after their match," a source said.
Match Commissioner Colonel Goutam Kar would file a report on the matter to the All India Football Federation, which may seek an explanation from the Karnataka team, an official said.
The stadium has been renovated for the tournament and along with the four dressing rooms, floodlights have been put up to enable matches to be played in the evening.
But the lights went off during the half-time break of the Maharashtra-Karnataka match delaying the second half action by about 15 minutes. Due to the erratic power supply in Gurgaon, the four light towers are supported by two generators while the general practice is to employ a feeder system for the purpose.
Another untoward incident that has come to light is the theft of some mobile phones and watches belonging to the Kerala players from the dressing room. But predictably, the organisers are not willing to talk too much about the incident. "We have filed an FIR and are confident that the goods will be recovered very soon. Mobile phones can easily be tracked down," Bharadwaj claimed.
He also indicated that the presence of a large number of Kerala supporters during their side's matches had something to do with it.
"One should not write negatively about such major events," he added. The mediapersons are also not having a very comfortable time as their view of the ground is almost always obstructed by unauthorised persons in the press enclosure. When the organisers failed to prevent their entry into the area meant specifically for journalists, they did the next best thing - shift the media enclosure itself. As it is, the absence of a single television in the press enclosure makes it difficult for the journalists to follow the action on the far side as the viweing area is not too high off ground level.
"Official broadcasters Zee Sports had agreed to provide a TV for the press enclosure, but so far nothing has happened," an AIFF official lamented.
Interestingly, the Federation has promised an elaborate set of facilities to be provided to the media, but hardly any of them have been fulfilled.

::: Dhorasoo free to move after PSG sacking :::
Reuters report: Midfielder Vikash Dhorasoo, who was sacked by Paris St Germain last week, is free to move to another club, the French Professional Football League (LFP) said on Tuesday.
Dhorasoo was sacked for alleged insubordination and disobedience after querying the tactics of coach Guy Lacombe and calling him a liar in an interview with sports daily L'Equipe last month.
The player plans to sue PSG in a labour tribunal over the sacking.
The LFP also said in a statement that it was available to the club and the player in case they sought arbitration.
Dhorasoo is the first player made redundant by a French club since a charter regulating professional soccer was introduced in France in 1973.

::: AMFA name Manipur U19 first camp probables :::
The All-Manipur FA has named 35 probables for the first probables camp for the state U19 team. The camp will kick-off on October 20 under coach Dr Ksh Birbal Singh at the Mapal Kangjeibung, Imphal.
MANIPUR U19 Probables: Goalkeepers: S Basanta (Thoubal), Kh Sanjeet (Bishenpur), L Ashok (IWDFA), Y Deepak (IEDFA), Khouminlal (Churachandpur). Defenders: Ng Nimai (Bishenpur), Th Dinesh (IWDFA), Y Bapil (Thoubal), U Sarat (Thoubal), Y Sanjoy (Kakching), W Inaobi (IEDFA), L Dhanachandra (IEDFA), M Premchandra (IWDFA), T Ajitkumar (IEDFA), Th Kala (IWDFA), Rollingson (IWDFA), A Boy (Thoubal). Midfielders: L Gouro (Bishenpur), Paokhomang Hangsingh (IWDFA), S Kapmawi (Churachandpur), Ch Dhanakumar (Kakching), L Bisham (Bishenpur), L Ibungobi (IEDFA), K Anand Kabui (IWDFA), Boipu (IWDFA), L Basu (IEDFA), K Gandhiba (IEDFA). Forwards: T Suraj (IWDFA), N Dhananjoy (Bishenpur), Sh Sumarjit (IEDFA), Hemkhoson Thouthong (Churachandpur), S Herojit (IEDFA), K Sanjeet (Thoubal), A Sonamani (Bishenpur), L Herojit (IWDFA).

October 17

RESULTS & NEWS

61st Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group B: Tamil Nadu 2-0 Karnataka - Goals: 1-0 S Satish Kumar (66'), 2-0 Jotin Singh (68').
TAMIL NADU: 1-VP Satish Kumar; 13-Dhanraj Ravanan, ?-J Anandavasan, 4-L Karthik, 3-N Mohan Raj, 6-L Johnny, 10-Kalia Kulothungan, 20-S Satish Kumar, 7-A Jestus Anthony, 9-Raman Vijayan (12-Jotin Singh), ?-R Gowsigan.
KARNATAKA: 1-Gumpe Rime, 2-Sunil Kumar, 3-Nanjangud Shivananju Manju, 5-G Chandrashekhar, 6-Raghuveer Singh, 7-J Muralidharan, ?-M Satish Kumar, 15-B Prakash, 18-D Raju, ?-BV Pradeep.
YELLOW CARD: Dhanraj Ravanan (29', Tamil Nadu).
RED CARD: Sampath Kumar Kuttimani (77', Karnataka).
REFEREE: Deepak S Bisht (Delhi).
ASSISTANT REFEREES: Dinesh Nair (Gujarat), F Fernandes (Goa).
FOURTH OFFICIAL: M Bhattacharya (West Bengal).
Detailed Match information are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com SANTOSH TROPHY special

61st Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group B: Maharashtra 1-1 Kerala - Goals: 1-0 Kasif Jamal (8'), 1-1 KM Abdul Naushad (29').
In a Group B clash of the 61st Santosh Trophy quarterfinal league Maharashtra and Kerala played out a one-all draw. Maharashtra went ahead in the 8th minute through a Kasif Jamal goal, which came from a cross by Adil Ansari from the right. His shot hit the left upright and went in. Kerala equalised through KM Abdul Naushad's goal, which was created by a superb through-pass by T Asif Saheer. Naushad calmly slotted it home past Subhasish Roy Choudhury.
The match was played at an electrifying pace, seldom associated with Indian football in the first half and it was a very competitive game. There was a small flare-up in the 30th minute when Jamal made a bad tackle but otherwise, the match has been played in good spirits. Kerala put on an amazing display of sumptuous short passes and superb ball-control. N Pradeep, Abdul Hakkim and Asif Saheer have looked very good. For Maharashtra, oldie Kasif Jamal looked threatening. Jamal missed good chances in the 28th and the 40th minute also.
In the second half the match lost pace and wasn't as competitive as the first half, which was one to remember.
MAHARASHTRA: 1-Subhasish Roy Chowdhury, 2-Jinto Jose, 3-Clifford Kilmo, 19-Santosh Koli, 5-Rauf Sher Khan, 7-Steven Dias, 8-Hekmat Singh, 10-Paresh Shivalkar, 18-Kasif Jamal (61' 14-Sushanth Mathew), 21-Adil Ansari (87' 9-Aziz Qureshi), 15-Abhishek Yadav.
KERALA: 1-Jean Christian; 3-Abdul Basheer, 5-Jaseer Karnath, 6-KS Joby, 4-Dhanarajan R, 2-Naduparambil Pappachan Pradeep; 15-KM Abdul Naushad, 18-M Lenal Thomas, 8-R Rajesh; 17-MA Abdul Hakkim (62' 11-M Mohammed Rafi), 9-T Asif Saheer (75' ?-PK Anil Kumar).
YELLOW CARD: Kasif Jamal (47'), Steven Dias (82', both Maharashtra).
REFEREE: Abdul Salim (Delhi).
ASSISTANT REFEREES: MK Roy (Assam), PK Bose (Madhya Pradesh).
FOURTH OFFICIAL: A Arjunan (Services).
Detailed Match information are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com SANTOSH TROPHY special

55th Bordoloi Trophy - Semifinal: Assam Regimental Centre 1-1,4-3 ONGC, Mumbai [penalties] - Goals: 1-0 Joychand Meetei (23'), 1-1 Rakshak Naik (55').
7th NSF Martyr Trophy - Round 2: Puomai SU 4-0 Rangers SC
7th NSF Martyr Trophy - Pre-Quarterfinal: Puliebadze Club 5-1 Tribal Spirit, Kohima
28th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Semifinal: Air-India 0-0,2-1 Assam Rifles [extratime] - Goals: 1-0 Hamza Zaheer Abbas (96'), 2-0 Alex Ambrose (114'), 2-1 Abel Sema (116').
11th Sujit Narzary Gold Cup - Final: TRAU, Manipur 6-1 Assam Rifles

::: Das Munshi: Pro League is coming next year :::
In the capital today the AIFF president Das Munshi said that in a years time India would have a Pro League, but when the National Football League would become fully professionally he couldn't answer.
The AIFF chief said that so far six Indian clubs fulfill the critiria's set by the AFC under the Professional League guidelines. The AFC had advised the AIFF to transform the NFL into a professional league set-up to improve the standard and the quality of the NFL, hereby also that of Indian football. Amongst the critiria are an own ground, a professionally qualified coach and a professional club set-up.
The names of the clubs who fulfill the critiria were not released, but the AIFF hoped to have 10 teams fulfill the critiria to have a proper league next year.

::: Baichung keens to play in Goa before end of career, lauds Bob Houghton :::
UNI report: India football captain Baichung Bhutia today said his current revitalised form was possible due to the able leadership of national coach Bob Houghton.
"Bob Houghton is a very good coach with great experience working in several clubs in different countries. I'm very happy under him and want to learn more from him for a better future," the prolific striker told reporters in Gangtok today.
"I want to carry on and play for national team," he said. He said "My donning of Indian colour was possible for hard work under the guidance of foreign coach." Baichung is presently in Gangtok along with his friend and JCT player, Renedy Singh.
Baichung also admitted that tiredness and lack of motivation had creeped in after playing for 12 continuous years in the national team. However, it changed after Bob Houghton's arrival as the new coach. "I have played for the national team for 12 years and sometimes you feel tired and some lack of motivation," he said.
"Now, with Bob Houghton as the coach, and I'm very happy under him." Compared to the experts' opinion that the recent India's 3-0 defeat to Japan was a good result for India, Baichung said that the result was not ‘satisfactory'. "We can do much better as we got a good coach who is very tactical," he said.
Baichung also highlighted the lack of infrastructural development for football at grassroots level in the country.
Commenting on his current season with Mohan Bagan, Baichung said that it has been great. "I got three winning goals for the team in big matches this season", he said. When asked that whether he will play in Goa after spending almost his entire career in Calcutta, Baichung said that he had been receiving offers from Goan clubs. "I will love to play in Goa before I retire," he said.
Baichung also informed that the newly formed Football Players Association that consists of players from different clubs of India will be organising a fund raising football match for the late footballer Sudip Chatterjee this November. The benefit match will be played possibly on November 4, he added.
As a part of the association's social causes, Baichung said the association will be bringing orphans from Jammu and Kashmir and Pune to let them play in East Bengal and Mohun Bagan grounds in December.

::: IOS (Sports & Leisure) to manage Durand Cup :::
Delhi-based sports management company Infinity Optimal Solutions (IOS) and Osians (India's premier art and auction house) have joined hands to host the 119th edition of the prestigious Durand Cup. The tournament that was earlier organized by the Durand Football Tournament Society in close proximity with the Indian Army will go through a facelift from this year onwards.
In keeping with the growing trends of professionalism in Indian sport, Durand Cup, the third oldest football tournament in the world after the English and the Scottish FA Cup scheduled to be played in the Capital from November 5 to 27, 2006 will for the first time be conducted under the umbrella of a professional sports management company.
"Indian professional football has received a tremendous boost with the Durand Cup acquiring a new face, the substantial increase in the prize money will definitely charge up the participating teams and in all the spirit of football," said 24 year old Neerav Tomar, Director IOS (Sports & Leisure). "We at IOS are a team of young and passionate sports lovers who starting with the Durand Cup aim to change the face of Indian sport and see our nation as a sporting superpower," added Neerav, who himself has been a National level player and has represented the country in squash at the junior level.
IOS Sports & Leisure, have been associated with events in squash and boxing.

::: AFC announce U19 Women's Championship fixtures. :::
The AFC U19 Women's Championships qualifiers will be held with nine nations in two groups played in Malaysia and Taiwan from November 7 to 15. The top two teams qualify for the AFC U19 Women's Championships. India will face Thailand, Singapore, Myanmar and Jordan to try and grab one of the two qualification spots.
INDIA U19 Women Schedule of matches:
November 7: INDIA U19 Women - Jordan (19.00 local time)
November 9: INDIA U19 Women - Myanmar (16.30 local time)
November 11: INDIA U19 Women - Singapore (19.00 local time)
November 15: INDIA U19 Women - Thailand (16.30 local time)

::: Arunachal Pradesh announce their U16 state squad :::
The Arunachal Pradesh have named their 20 member State U16 team for the Final Round of the 29th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (Under-16) to be held in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
ARUNACHAL PRADESH U16: Nyamar Loyi, Yirdo Loyi, Tati Yapa, Sangi Cheda, Toko Tasaph, Taying Anthony, Bamang Tania, Lokam Bagang, Minto Peying, Keji Kanjal, Techi Takar, Kadum Tabin, Kipa Tania, Tai Bharat, Nich Talar, Pani Raju, Gumtey Rubi, Techi Susen, Lingang Bongu, Tao Gom.
Coach: Gyamar Jill. Manager: Tadar Jadu.

October 16

IndianFootball.Com, India's Premier Football Website, earlier today crossed the 800.000 single User HITs mark!!!

Another milestone for India's oldest football website...

IndianFootball.Com was launched on April 10, 1998 by Arunava Chaudhuri and since then our team has grown into an editorial team of nine members, which is set to further grow in the coming weeks and months. Since it's start IndianFootball.Com has been working to bring to you the latest on Indian football, be it news, schedules and results, and that not only from the high profile National League, but also from the 2.Division, local leagues, youth football; on the numerous national teams - men/women, junior/senior; and from the expate communities across the globe. We try to cover as much of Indian football as possible.
We only started with the counter on the site in 1999 and we had crossed the 100.000 barrier on May 9, 2002; the 200.000 barrier on July 18, 2003; the 300.000 barrier on March 29, 2004; the 400.000 barrier on November 16, 2004; the 500.000 barrier on May 18, 2005; the 600.000 barrier on December 21, 2005; while we crossed the 700.000 HITs just before the start of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. We have been seeing with delight the HITs going higher and higher now with an average of over 800 with more than 200.000 HITs this year alone. Sadly we have to add that the counter hasn't always worked, so we actually will have crossed the 800.000 HITs mark a while ago.
IndianFootball.Com is India's Premier Football Website and the success of the site also proves for us that our hard work and dedication pays off with the return of the visitors/users in search of Indian football news and results. And we happily see that we are getting more and more HITs everyday!
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank those of you, who have helped us with our work and have supported us over the years!!!

IndianFootball.Com would like to announce that it's Calcutta-based Editorial Team member Swagatam Banerjee has been promoted from correspondent to Editor!
Swagatam has been doing great service to our website since joining us and he is the face of the site in Calcutta, heading the IndianFootball.Com operations in the "City of Joy".
More information on how to join us and about our Editorial Team on the >>IndianFootball.Com Editorial Team page

61st Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group A: Punjab 0-0 Haryana - Goals: none.
PUNJAB: 22-Th Kameshwar Singh, 2-Jaspal Singh, 4-Harpreet Singh, 3-Narinder Singh, 12-Daljit Singh, 13-Baldeep Singh, 7-Sukhjinder Singh, 6-Bimanyu Bimal Barua, 15-Hardip Singh Saini, 10-Parveen Kumar, 9-Manjit Singh.
HARYANA: 1-Navjot Singh, 20-Ishwar Singh, 3-Pawan Kumar, 14-Sunil Mishra, 19-Amjad Ali Khan, 9-Sanjeev Yadav, 7-Habeeb Khan, 4-Sandeep Malik, 10-Parveen Arora, 6-Manish Mathani, 5-Gurvinder Singh.
RED CARD: Ishwar Singh (89', Haryana).
REFEREE: Naveen Jaydeep Sundi (Jharkhand).
ASSISTANT REFEREES: A Arjunan (Services), Deepak Bisht (Delhi).
FOURTH OFFICIAL: PK Bose (Madhya Pradesh).
Detailed Match information are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com SANTOSH TROPHY special

61st Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group A: Goa 2-0 West Bengal - Goals: 1-0 Peter Carvalho (31'), 2-0 Freddy Mascarenhas (90+1').
In the match of Indian football's powerhouses, Goa beat West Bengal 2-0 in a Group A match of the 61st Santosh Trophy quarterfinal league. Goa controlled proceedings, looked much more energetic and the second goal has changed the goal difference scenario drastically. West Bengal somehow looked out of ideas. Goa went ahead in the 31th minute through a Peter Carvalho goal, whose header after a corner was blocked by Nabi but his rebound went in. One minute into the second half injury time striker Freddy Mascarenhas doubled the lead as he scored with a placed shot from a clearance of Bengal keeper Kalyan Chaubey of a Wilton Gomes centre.
Goa's East Bengal duo Covan Lawrence and Freddy Mascarenhas were outstanding, while for Bengal Suman Datta und Syed Rahim Nabi had a good game. Goa's defence was too good for the Bengal strikers, who weren't able to penetrate their rivals defence.
GOA: 1-Luis Xavier Barreto, 4-Philip Gomes, 18-Valeriano Rebello, 6-Covan Lawrence, 2-Marcus Peixoto, 16-Sameer Naik (89' Remus Gomes), 14-Wilton Gomes, 7-Nicholas Rodrigues, 9-Peter Carvalho, 19-Anthony Pereira (36' Nicolas Borges), 10-Freddy Mascarenhas.
WEST BENGAL: 13-Kalyan Chaubey, 4-Shyam Mondal, 21-Habibur Rehman Mondal, 6-Bijay Basfore, 26-Sanjeev Kumar Maria, 29-Soumik Dey; 14-Suman Dutta, 25-Snehashis Chakraborty (65' 17-Avinash Thapa), 16-Gauranga Datta (46' 9-Tarif Ahmed), 23-Syed Rahim Nabi, 30-Dipendu Biswas.
REFEREE: Rizwan Ul Haq (Delhi).
ASSISTANT REFEREES: Dinesh Nair (Gujarat), Dhanraj K More (Maharashtra).
FOURTH OFFICIAL: Abdul Salim (Delhi)
Detailed Match information are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com SANTOSH TROPHY special

55th Bordoloi Trophy - Quarterfinal: Oil India Limited 2-0 SAIL, Calcutta - Goals: 1-0 Bhimkanta Sonowal (13'), 2-0 Mrinal Boro (32').
55th Bordoloi Trophy - Quarterfinal: George Telegraph SC 0-2 Assam State Electricity Board - Goals: 0-1,0-2 Sanjiva Rongpi (14',75').
Mumbai Super Division: Central Bank of India 1-3 Dena Bank
7th NSF Martyr Trophy - Round 2: Khriekesa Club 0-1 Junior Naga Boys
7th NSF Martyr Trophy - Round 2: Naga Hospital Colony 0-1 Ziekezou SC
28th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Quarterfinal League Group A: Sikkim Police 1-3 Assam Rifles - Goals: 0-1,0-2,0-3 Abel Sema (3',53',72'), 1-3 Kamal Bagdas (73').

::: Santosh Trophy semifinals rescheduled :::
The semifinals of the 61st Santosh Trophy have been rescheduled. Due to the October 21 being Deepawali both the semifinals will now be held on October 22. The first semifinal will kickoff at 16.00 IST, while the second semifinal will be held at 19.00 IST. The final will be held on October 25.

::: All-Manipur FA gears up for launch of Manipur State League :::
AFC release: With less than three weeks to go for the official launch of the Vision India - Project Manipur, the All Manipur Football Association is finalising the programme to mark this occasion.
AFC General Secretary Dato' Peter Velappan alongwith representatives of the AIFF, AMFA and senior officials of the Manipur State Government will launch the Manipur State League (MSL) on November 4, 2006, at the 20,000-capacity Khuman Lampak Main Stadium in Imphal.
MSL is the first state-wide league and consists of the best twelve clubs in the north-eastern state. The clubs have been selected as per MSL Club Regulations proposed by AFC Vision Asia. The Club Regulations screened the clubs on six key criteria - Legal status, Administration and management, Finance, Facilities, Youth and technical development, and Community and fan-base. Based on the assessment the following clubs were selected by AMFA:
FROM IMPHAL: Southern Sporting Union; Manipur Police SC; Youth Welfare Club; North Eastern Re-Organising Cultural Association (NEROCA); Tiddim Road Athletic Union (TRAU); Eastern Sporting Union; Sports Authority of India - Regional Centre (SAIRC); Kakching FC; Pholiden Youth Club, Thoubal; Rengkai Athletic & Cultural Club, Churachandpur; All-Moirang Football Association (AMOFA); YWO, Bishnupur.

October 15

RESULTS & NEWS

61st Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group B: Kerala 3-1 Tamil Nadu - Goals: 1-0 KM Abdul Naushad (13'), 1-1 Kalia Kulothungan (25'), 2-1,3-1 NP Pradeep (50',78').
Kerala won the match between the neighbours from the south, with Indian international NP Pradeep proving the talisman in the second half. In what was arguably the most entertaining contest of this year's tournament, both teams attacked with reasonable success in the first half. Abdul Naushad opened the scoing with an opportune pounce on to a blocked shot by Rafi which he himself set-up. Tamil Nadu hit back from a set-piece, with Kulothungan heading in after finding space in between his markers. Kerala came out more determined in the second half, with Tamil Nadu losing their co-ordination upfront. First Pradeep scored of a wonderful diving header at the far post from a long freekick into the box. Then he went on a mazy solo run down the right, slotting past the goalkeeper from a narrow angle after having got the better of the defenders. It was a much deserved victory for the southerners, who had a vociferous and large contingent of supporters in the stands throughout.
KERALA: 1-Jean Christian; 3-Abdul Basheer, 5-Jaseer Karnath, 6-KS Joby, 4-Dhanarajan R, 2-Naduparambil Pappachan Pradeep; 15-KM Abdul Naushad, 18-M Lenal Thomas, 8-R Rajesh; 17-MA Abdul Hakkim, 11-M Mohammed Rafi.
TAMIL NADU: 1-VP Satish Kumar; 19-J Shaji, 13-Dhanraj Ravanan, 4-L Karthik, 3-N Mohan Raj, 10-Kalia Kulothungan, 20-S Satish Kumar (60' 14-K Arul Mani), 11-J Auxiano (67' 16-P Muthu), 6-L Johnny, 7-A Jestus Anthony, 9-Raman Vijayan.
REFEREE: PK Bose (Madhya Pradesh).
YELLOW CARDS: Jaseer Karnath (53'), M Lenal Thomas (75', both Kerala); J Shaji (15'), N Mohan Raj (48'), Kalia Kulothungan (90', both Tamil Nadu).
Detailed Match information are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com SANTOSH TROPHY special

61st Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group B: Maharashtra 3-0 Karnataka - Goals: 1-0 Adil Anari (47'), 2-0 Abhishek Yadav (64'), 3-0 Paresh Shivalkar (83').
MAHARASHTRA: 1-Subhasish Roy Chowdhury, 2-Jinto Jose, 3-Clifford Kilmo, 19-Santosh Koli, 5-Rauf Sher Khan, 7-Steven Dias, 8-Hekmat Singh, 10-Paresh Shivalkar, 18-Kasif Jamal (85' 9-Aziz Qureshi), 21-Adil Ansari (76' 14-Sushanth Mathew), 15-Abhishek Yadav.
KARNATAKA: 1-Gumpe Rime, 2-Sunil Kumar, 3-Nanjangud Shivananju Manju, 5-Chandrashekhar, 6-Raghuveer Singh, 7-J Muralidharan, 14-Rajendra Prasad, 8-Xavier Vijayakumar (61' 12-Arun Kumar), 18-D Raju,, 9-Sampath Kumar Kuttimani (88' 15-B Prakash), 21-Gyan Moin Thapa.
REFEREE: F Fernandes (Goa).
YELLOW CARDS: Sunil Kumar (67'), Gyan Moin Thapa (90+1', both Karnataka)
Detailed Match information are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com SANTOSH TROPHY special

11th Bodoland Gallants Gold Cup - Final: Assam Police Blues 4-1 SAI, Guwahati
55th Bordoloi Trophy - Quarterfinal: Assam Regimental Centre 1-1,3-1 Nagaland Police [penalties] - Goals: 0-1 Yapang (39'), 1-1 Nilen Kom (61').
55th Bordoloi Trophy - Quarterfinal: SAIL, Durgapur 1-1,2-3 ONGC, Mumbai [penalties] - Goals: 1-0 Saurav Sen (6'), 1-1 Amit Mondal (20').
28th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Quarterfinal League Group B: Air-India 0-0 Army XI - Goals: none.
28th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Quarterfinal League Group B: NEPAL XI 0-1 Sikkim Sports Academy - Goal: 0-1 Bikash Jairu (55').

::: Asian Games squad to play friendly matches against Malaysia :::
The Asian Games bound INDIA U23 squad will play two friendly matches against their Malaysian counterparts next month. The matches are likely to take place in Delhi and Gurgaon with dates not yet set. Gurgaon got the go-ahead yesterday from the AIFF president PR Das Munshi at the start of the final-leg of the 61st Santosh Trophy.
Also chief coach Bob Houghton had announced earlier that he would use the last and final 2007 Asia Cup qualifier against Yemen on November 15 as a test match for the INDIA U23 team.

::: Art Auction House buys Durand Cup rights :::
The Times of India reports today that the Osian's Auction House and Archive has bought the rights for the Durand Cup for the next five years. The rights will be managed by Delhi-based Infinity Optimal Solutions for the Auction House.
In what seems a somewhat surprising move the Indian Army, who have been organising India's oldest tournament since its start in 1888 in Shimla, have handed the rights to a private party for the first time. Now Osian through IOS wants to improve the tournament, make it better organised and improve also the quality.

::: Sanju Pradhan to play for Air-India :::
PTI report: Sanju Pradhan, a promising football player from Sikkim, has been appointed on a one-year contract by Air-India, Mumbai to play for the side, Sikkim Sports and Youth Affairs Minister, PS Goley, told reporters in Gangtok on Sunday.
"It is a golden opportunity for Sanju to hone his skills and perform in prestigious tournaments outside the state," Goley said.
18 year old Pradhan, who has been part of the India Under-14 and U-17 squads in several international tournaments will first play in the Mumbai leagues and then play for Air-India in the Federation and Durand Cup tournaments, Air India Coach Bimal Ghosh said.
He has been selected on the basis of his impressive performance in the ongoing Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup football tournament here, Ghosh said.
Pradhan is currently playing for Sikkim Sports Academy in the tournament.
Commenting on his selection by the Air India team Pradhan said it was a big occasion for to play for a prestigious team like Air India.
"It will give me exposure and an opportunity to improve my skills," he said.

October 14

RESULTS & NEWS

In the latest IndianFootball.Com Guest Column our friend Harmit Singh Kamboe looks at the Subroto Cup 2006, India's national school football tournament, which concluded yesterday. But in both the U14 and U17 categories schools from Nepal won, still there are lessons to be learnt and Harmit talks about them.
Read the complete article here >>IndianFootball.Com Guest Column - Harmit Singh Kamboe .

On YouTube IndianFootball.Com's Harmit Singh Kamboe has found a video clip from Japan with the goals from the India-Japan Asia Cup qualifiers on last wednesday. All three Japanese goals are on the clip plus the lights going off and the stray dog on the ground. And we wanted those of you to see this, who had no chance to watch the match.
Go here to watch the >>India - Japan match highlights

61st Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group A: Haryana 0-1 West Bengal - Goal: 0-1 Dipendu Biswas (2').
West Bengal scraped through to a narrow 1-0 victory over the hosts Haryana, who gave in a spirited performance, going down fighting. Bengal attacking veteran Dipendu Biswas scored from a good piece of skill in the penalty box following a throw in the second minute itself. After the opener, Sanjeev Kumar Maria proved specially excellent in preventing Haryana's attackers making capital in the first half. Haryana raised their performance in the second half, but were unable to find the killer move to equalise. For Bengal, captain Sandip Nandy was substituted for hurting his shoulder towards the end of the game, but the injury is not thought to be serious.
HARYANA: 1-Navjot Singh, 20-Ishwar, 3-Pawan Kumar, 14-Sunil Mishra (65' 8-Pankaj Sura), 19-Amzad Khan, 9-Sanjeev Yadav, 7-Habeeb Khan, 4-Sandeep Malik, 10-Parveen Arora (78' 13-Pradeep Kumar), 18-Deepak Yadav, 11-Devesh Yadav (46' 6-Manish Mathani).
WEST BENGAL: 1-Sandip Nandy (82' 13-Kalyan Chaubey), 4-Shyam Mondal, 21-Habibur Rehman Mondal, 6-Bijay Basfore, 26-Sanjeev Kumar Maria, 29-Soumik Dey; 14-Suman Dutta, 25-Snehashis Chakraborty, 23-Syed Rahim Nabi, 16-Gauranga Datta (64' 20-Ratan Das, 90'+2' 9-Tariq Ahmed), 30-Dipendu Biswas.
YELLOW CARDS: none.
REFEREE: A Arjunan (Services).
ASSISTANT REFEREES: Dhanraj K More (Maharashtra), Naveen Jaydeep Sundi (Jharkhand).
FOURTH OFFICIAL: Rizwan Ul Haq (Delhi).
Detailed Match information are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com SANTOSH TROPHY special

61st Santosh Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group A: Goa 0-2 Punjab - Goals: 0-1 Sukhjinder Singh (43'), 0-2 Manjit Singh (79').
GOA: 1-Luis Xavier Barreto, 4-Philip Gomes, 18-Valeriano Rebello, 6-Covan Lawrence, 2-Marcus Peixoto, 16-Sameer Naik, 14-Wilton Gomes, 15-Clifford Miranda, 9-Peter Carvalho, 7-Nicholas Rodrigues, 19-Anthony Pereira.
PUNJAB: 22-Th Kameshwar Singh, 2-Jaspal Singh, 4-Harpreet Singh, 3-Narinder Singh, 12-Daljit Singh, 13-Baldeep Singh, 7-Sukhjinder Singh, 6-Bimanyu Bimal Barua, 15-Hardip Singh Saini, 10-Parveen Kumar, 9-Manjit Singh.
REFEREE: Dinesh Nair (Gujarat).
Detailed Match information are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com SANTOSH TROPHY special

55th Bordoloi Trophy - Pre-Quarterfinal: FCI, Guwahati 1-6 Assam State Electricity Board - Goals: 0-1 Sanjiva Rongpi (20'), 0-2 Nitu Narzary (25'), 0-3 Mani Kanta Brahma (30'), 1-3 Pratap Brahma (67'), 1-4 Zimi Singh (74'), 1-5 Mitradev Swargeiry (82'), 1-6 L Deben Singh (89').
55th Bordoloi Trophy - Pre-Quarterfinal: City Police, Guwahati 0-3 SAIL, Calcutta - Goals: 0-1,0-3 Ashael W (4',21'), 0-2 Lal Biket Lunga (17').
7th NSF Martyr Trophy - Round 2: New Reserve YO 1-0 AKM
7th NSF Martyr Trophy - Round 2: Naga Boys Club 3-0 Kensubo Chabon Club
28th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Quarterfinal League Group A: Border Security Force 1-1 Assam Rifles - Goals: 0-1 Akum Ao (23'), 1-1 PH Boy Singh (65').
28th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Quarterfinal League Group A: Sikkim Police 1-4 GMHK Lions XI, NIGERIA

::: 2008 Olympic Qualifiers camp in Goa :::
The AIFF is holding it's first camp for the 2008 Olympic Games qualifiers from October 16 to 23 in Goa under national coach Bob Houghton. With the Santosh Trophy on, only those players have been invited to the camp who are not active in the national state championships. A number of former INDIA U20 internationals have been called to the camp and also a couple of players currently part of the senior national team set-up in Sunil Chetri and Anupam Sarkar.
This is also a chance for Bob Houghton to have a look at a new set of players, where the one or the other could make it into the Asian Games squad.
INDIA Camp Probables: Warundeep Singh, Praveen Rawat, Th Bungo Singh, Chitrasen Chandam Singh, Vanlal Rova (all Churchill Brothers SC), Subrata Pal, Mehtab Hussain, Subhas Chakraborty, Surajit Bose (all Mohun Bagan AC), Anupam Sarkar, Gurjinder Singh, Debabrata Roy, Ashim Biswas (all East Bengal Club), Climax Lawrence, Jerry Zirsanga (Dempo SC), Sunil Chetri, Sunil Kumar (JCT Mills), Marlanki Suting, Lekini Suting (both Lajong SC, Meghalaya), Amit Nandy (Mahindra United), M Gouramangi Singh (Sporting Clube de Goa), Subhas Mondal (Air-India), Rocus Lamare (Salgaocar SC), Reuben D'Souza (Central Railway), Bulu Zigdung (Assam Rifles), Malsawma (Calcutta Police).

October 13

RESULTS & NEWS

::: Harpal Singh: I may play for India :::
The statement made by "Player of Indian Origin" Harpal Singh does come as a surprise in an interview with Zohaib Rashid for the British Asian weekly Eastern Eye.
In the interview Harpal said, "When I was younger, 18-19-years-old, at that time I was concentrating on making a name for myself. That was my main priority. But now that I am older and more experienced, [playing for India] is something that I am looking at as a possibility," he added.
And that is true. Harpal, who prefers to play as a winger, had been approached a number of times in the early years of this decade to consider to play for India but he had turned down the offer as he wanted to try and play for England, but now with that chance gone Harpal is looking at the possibility of playing for India.
25 year old Harpal Singh currently plays for League of Ireland Premier Division club Sligo Rovers FC, who are fifth in the 11 team Irish league. He had last played for Stockport County FC in the English Division Two until the end of the last season but with a long injury Harpal could not get a new contract.
With the search for PIOs interested to play for India on, Harpal surely is an option that Bob Houghton could look at to strengthen Team India.
More information is available at the >>IndianFootball.Com's PIO Database

U17 Subroto Cup School Football Tournament - Final: Nobel Academy, Kathmandu, NEPAL 5-0 Higher Secondary School, Agartala - Goals: 1-0,4-0 Chetan Ghimire (3',50'), 2-0 Bharat Khawas (12'), 3-0 Niranjan Malla (40'), 5-0 Roshan Kharki (52').

55th Bordoloi Trophy - Pre-Quarterfinal: Assam Police Blues 1-2 Nagaland Police - Goals: 0-1 Vizoru (8'), 1-1 Anuj Gogoi (30'), 1-2 Vezakie (80').
55th Bordoloi Trophy - Pre-Quarterfinal: SAIL, Durgapur 2-1 2nd Assam Special Reserve Force - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Arup Dutta (25',64'), 2-1 Harthang Teron (79').
Mumbai Super Division: Kenkre Football Academy 1-2 Dena Bank
7th NSF Martyr Trophy - Round 2: 21st Millennium SC 0-5 D'Block XI
7th NSF Martyr Trophy - Round 2: Chumukedima SU 3-1 Lerie FC
28th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Quarterfinal League Group B: Air-India 2-1 Sikkim Sports Academy

::: 2006 Asian Games: Dates and venues of football matches released :::
INDIA's U23 team had been placed in Group D along with Iran, Hongkong and the Maldives. Now the dates and venues of the football tournament has been released by the 2006 Doha Asian Games organisers.
INDIA open their campaign on November 29 againt Hongkong at the Al-Gharrafa Football Stadium at 17.15 local time. INDIA's next match is against south Asian rivals Maldives on December 3 at the Al-Sadd Football Stadium at 17.15 local time. INDIA play their final match against the toughest opponent of the Group Iran also at the Al-Sadd Football Stadium on December 6 at 17.15 local time.

::: Zee Sports to telecast 61st Santosh Trophy live :::
Zee Sports will be telecasting the 15 matches of the final round of the 61st Santosh Trophy live.
Himanshu Mody, Business Head Zee Sports said, "We are proud to be associated with the telecast of 61st edition of Santosh Trophy. Zee Sports has put in lot of hard work to present the Santosh Trophy in a viewer friendly format at viewer friendly times with in depth analysis. We are also, undertaking a holistic program to develop football from ground level to see India playing in major football tournaments around the world. We are sure that all this along with Zee Sports distribution strength will see football reach a new level." He further added, "Our world-class production crew flown in from around the world, with some the finest equipment, will be working overtime to ensure that the Santosh Trophy telecast is among the best in the world."
Zee Sports will telecast the 15 matches from the quarterfinals onwards of the 61st Santosh Trophy, LIVE and Exclusive from, Gurgaon starting tomorrow. Zee Sports would be using a 10 camera set-up to produce the telecast The telecast package will include preview and review shows, half time match analysis and various studio programming. The coverage will involve more cameras, more replays, new commentators and a new graphic look. Zee Sports ace anchor Mayanti Langer will present the pre-match and a post-match analysis along with football expert Novy Kapadia.
In line with Zee Sports promise to deliver international quality coverage of Indian Football, John Helm will be commentator along with Zee Sports Anchor Debayan Sen for the 61st Santosh Trophy. John Helm is one of Europe's top football commentators for the last 25 years and has covered several World Cups and European Championships. In a career spanning two decades he has commentated on about 2000 football matches. He was also the lead commentator for the FIFA World Cup 2006. British Match Director David Horridge, will be the director for 61st edition of Santosh Trophy. David was the match director for FIFA World Cup 2006 and has been involved in directing Champions League matches.
Detailed information are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com SANTOSH TROPHY special

::: Dhorasoo to sue Paris St Germain :::
Reuters: French midfielder Vikash Dhorasoo plans to sue Paris Saint-Germain in a labour tribunal after being sacked by his club following a row with the manager.
Dhorasoo was dismissed on Wednesday for alleged insubordination and disobedience after querying the tactics of coach Guy Lacombe and calling him a liar in an interview with sports daily L'Equipe last month.
Responding to the club's move, Dhorasoo told Friday's L'Equipe: "I don't accept the charges. Money is not the issue, I'm suing them on principle. I want people to know that I didn't commit a serious offence."
Dhorasoo is the first player made redundant by a French club since a charter regulating professional soccer was introduced in France in 1973.
He was initially suspended by PSG's chairman Alain Cayzac after his spat with Lacombe, who had dropped him from the main squad and sent him to play for the club's amateur team for four weekends in a row.
"I've paid a high price for my freedom," Dhorasoo told the paper on Friday.
"To accept my dismissal would mean accepting the message they are sending to the players: 'shut up or you will be sacked."

October 12

RESULTS & NEWS

::: 61st Santosh Trophy final draw out :::
The Grouping and Draw for the 61st Santosh Trophy were carried out tonight at the Manager's Meeting in Gurgaon, Haryana just two days before the start of the Quarterfinal league. In Group A: defending champions Goa would face Punjab ,Haryana and West Bengal; while in Group B laast year's beaten finalists Maharashtra take on Kerala, Karnataka and Tamilnadu. The Quarterfinal l