Kokrajhar, January 3 (MTNews): Nagaland managed to hold on a goalless draw against Goa to remain undefeated and on top of Group 3 of the 76th National Football Championship for Hero Santosh Trophy 2022-23 played on Tuesday in Kokrajhar, Assam.
After four matches, Nagaland continues to lead the Group 3 tally with 10 points and Goa behind with 8 points. Up next, Nagaland will face Arunachal Pradesh and Goa against Tamil Nadu on January 5 in the last league match of the group.
A Nagaland win in the last match will give them direct qualifications for the final round, while Goa will need to beat Tamil Nadu by more than three goals and hope Nagaland to gain no points in their last match.
Haileuyibe Iranggau is the leading scorer for Nagaland with three goals in his kitty. He was also declared Player of the Match in the Nagaland-Goa match. The team is led by coach Mughato Aye, team Manager- Akhihito Zhimomi and physio Zakie. Sinenlo Kath is the captain of Nagaland football team.
The Hero Santosh Trophy is the premier Men’s National Football Championship of India. It was started in 1941 and was named after Sir Manmatha Nath Roy Chowdhary of Santosh, the then president of the erstwhile Indian Football Association.
All affiliated State Associations of AIFF are eligible to participate in this championship through the qualifying round which is played across the country. Winners from each group from the five groups qualify to the final round.
It will be historic for Nagaland if they qualify for the final round of Santosh Trophy as they will be travelling to Saudi Arabia to play the main round there that will be contested by 12 teams divided into two groups.
Dreams are becoming a reality for the Nagaland team thanks to the coach Mughato Aye and his manager Akhihito zhimomi. This duo has recently tasted success with the Subroto Cup U-17 title for Pilgrim School Dimapur.
On October 6, Kalyan Chaubey, president of the AIFF, and secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) president Yasser Al-Mishal and general secretary Ibrahim Al Kassim to “study the possibility to stage the final stages of the Santosh Trophy in the West Asian country in February 2023.”
“The idea is to host the knockout phase of Santosh Trophy in select cities of Saudi to encourage State level players to dream big and also to connect the large Indian community in Saudi with Indian football and create a win-win situation for both the Federations,” the AIFF said in a release.
(With inputs from SportsLIVE Nagaland)
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