Goa 1 Karnataka 0
Punjab 1 Services 0
PANJIM, JULY 29
An injury time goal by substitute Cavin Lobo helped defending champions Goa to squeeze past Karnataka by a solitary goal in their opening quarter-final league encounter played at the Salt lake Stadium here on Thursday.
The teams started on a slow note and failed to break the deadlock during the first 45 minutes.
A much better performance was expected from Goa in the second half, but their casual approach and lack of combination in the midfield certainly spoiled the day before substitute Cavin Lobo scored the winner in injury time.
Cavin replaced Milagres Gonsalves in the 55th minute and did give some tough time to the Karnataka defence. The striker finally broke the jinx with a clean strike from the top of the box to give his side a winning start to their campaign.
Our Mapusa Sports Reporter adds:Coach Mariano Dias said ” We played very well today, creating a lot of goal scoring opportunities from the midfield. The post came to Karnataka’s rescue once.”
Captain Felix D’Souza played in the goal behind a back four made up of Fulgencio Cardoza, Covan Lawrence, Mathew Gonsalves, and Rowilson Rodrigues. In the midfield Godwin Franco was joined by Savio Carneiro, Joseph Pereira and Adil Khan. Milagres Gonsalves started upfront with Peter Carvalho. Cavin came in for Milagres in the second half.
Punjab continued their unbeaten streak as they defeated Services 1-0 in another quarter-final match.
Coming from a hard fought win against Manipur in the pre-quarterfinal, Punjab not only enjoyed better ball possession but also dictated terms. The first half saw, the teams having equal opportunities to score.
Two substitutions in the second half paved the way for the winner for Jagir Singh coached side as Rohit Kumar came off the bench to score the decisive goal.
Parveen Kumar, who replaced Balraj Singh in the 46th minute essayed a brilliant pass to Rohit inside the box to do the rest in the 74th minute.
The Northern side could have extended their lead in the 88th minute, but Maninder Singh could manage to see his shot off target from inside the box.
Karnataka and Goa will have their next matches versus Services (3.30 p.m. start) and Punjab (6 p.m start) respectively, at YBK stadium in Kolkata on July 31.
Friday’s matches:
Manipur v. Haryana;
West Bengal v. Delhi.
