Wim era ends as Palestine defeats India

India, Palestine, Football, Soccer, FIFA, Friendly, October, West Bengal, Kanchenjunga, Siliguri, InternationalPalestine, the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup Champions beat India 3-2 in a friendly match that was played at the  Kanchenjunga stadium in Siliguri, on Monday evening. India were leading the match 2-1 at the half time.

India conceded as early as the 8th minute in the match. However Sunil Chhetri and Francis Fernandes scored apiece in the first half as India finished on top. The second half saw Palestine strongly coming back into the match and scoring two goals. Eventually India had to settle with a defeat in the friendly.

As yet another international friendly went by without telecast, fans were very vocal on social media about their displeasure.

Notable was also the complete silence from the ISL media team and the social media channels of ISL teams. Completely oblivious about the match, social media channels of ISL teams went about sharing totally irrelevant content. While this is not a big surprise for us, ISL which claims to take Indian football to another level omitting the national team’s friendly certainly does not bode well for the sport in India. All India Football Federation’s social media channels that used to be very active recently was also missing in action today.

This friendly against Palestine also marked the end of the Dutch coach Wim Koeverman’s stint as the national team’s manager. In the post match presentation ceremony Wim Koevermans confirmed that he is going to step down.

“This was my last match as the coach of the national team and I will not be taking up the post of AIFF’s Technical Director for private reasons,” said the Dutch coach.

Squad for Palestine friendlies announced

India, Palestine, Football, Soccer, FIFA, Friendly, October, West Bengal, Kanchenjunga, Siliguri, InternationalWim Koevermans has announced a squad of 20 for the upcoming friendlies with AFC Challenge Cup Champions Palestine. Both the matches will take place at the Kanchenjunga Stadium in Siliguri, West Bengal on October 6 and 9 respectively.

FIFA Ranks  : India – 158, Palestine : 102 [As of Sep 2014]

Palestine football team recently had a setback in their preparations for the upcoming Asian Cup when their coach Jamal Mahmoud resigned citing personal reasons.

Pritam Kotwal of Mohun Bagan is the sole debutant in the 20 member team. Lalkamal Bhowmick, the Mohun Bagan midfielder and Pune FC’s Arata Izumi will make a comeback to the national team.

Squad :

GOALKEEPERS: Subrata Paul, Karanjit Singh, Amrinder Singh.

DEFENDERS: Denzil Franco, Pritam Kotal, Arnab Mondal, Raju Gaikwad, Sandesh Jhinghan, Aiborlang Khongjee, Narayan Das.

MIDFIELDERS: Mehtab Hossain, Lenny Rodrigues, Arata Izumi, Lalkamal Bhowmick, Francis Fernandes, Clifford Miranda, Victorino Fernandes.

FORWARDS: Sunil Chhetri, Robin Singh, Balwant Singh.

STANDBYES: Shilton Paul, Arindam Bhattacharya, Rowilson Rodrigues, Gabriel Fernandes, Seminlen Doungel, Siam Hanghal, Lalrindika Ralte, Thongkhosem Haokip.

Santosh Trophy Final Round Fixtures and Results

Santosh Trophy, Football, South Zone, North-East Zone, East Zone, West Zone, North ZoneThe zonal preliminary rounds of Santosh Trophy 2014 concluded on 4th February and ten teams from different zones qualified for the final round to be held in Siliguri starting from 24th February. See the results from the Zonal Qualification Round here.

Ten teams that qualified are divided in two groups – A & B

Group A :

Uttarakhand, Mizoram, Kerala, Services, Maharashtra

Group B :

Railways, West Bengal, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Goa

Group A Fixtures :

Date : 24th February

 

[match id=232]

[match id=233]

Date : 26th February

 

[match id=234]

[match id=235]

Date : 28th February

 

[match id=236]

[match id=237]

Date : 02nd March

[match id=238]

[match id=239]

Date : 04th March

[match id=240]

[match id=241]

Group B Fixtures :

Date : 25th Feb

[match id=242]

[match id=243]

Date : 27th Feb

[match id=244]

[match id=245]

Date : 01st Mar

[match id=246]

[match id=247]

Date : 03rd Mar

[match id=248]

[match id=249]

Date : 05th Mar

[match id=250]

[match id=251]

Tamil Nadu Announces Santosh Trophy Squad

Tamil Nadu Football Association, Tamil Nadu, Santosh Trophy, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Andaman Nicobar, C M Ranjith, Football, States, Siliguri, South Zone, Soccer, IndianfootballTamil Nadu has announced the squad for the upcoming Santosh Trophy. P Sudhakar will lead the team that will take part in the South Zone leg starting in Chennai from January 26th.

In the South Zone leg, Tamil Nadu will take on Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Andaman Nicobar Islands. The top two teams from South Zone will qualify for the final phase to be held in Siliguri from February 2014.

Tamil Nadu squad:

S Rajini Kumar, A Arun Pradeep (vice-captain), TG Raj Guru, D Edison, K Satish, M Murthy, S Sandosh Kumar, F Francis Beschi, R Shiva Priyan, Wayne Antonio D’Silva, S Karthick, L Charles Anandaraj, Patil Vikram Vishwas, V Ashok Kumar, D Joffin, S Pravin Raja, P Sudhakar (captain), Santhakumar, A Raegan, H Ameerudeen.

Chief coach: CM Ranjith.

Assistant coach: P Rajeev.

Goalkeeping coach: M Muruhuvendan.

Manager: J Standy Dhanaraj.