Bengal and Goa, the two powerhouses of Indian football are set to clash in the final of the 71st edition of the Santosh Trophy. Whilst Bengal had to rely on the heroics of their goalkeeper Shankar Roy to beat Mizoram 6-5 on penalties, Goa edged out Kerala courtesy of a brace from their teenage prodigy Liston Colaco.
After romping through the qualifying stages of the competition, both teams were pitted in Group A of the final stage of the competition, where they qualified as the top two teams from the group.
Before the two team go face to face in the final tomorrow in Goa, we look at some of the most important numbers heading into the clash.
0 – Bengal are yet to concede in the final stage of the competition. They have kept clean sheets in all of their group matches which featured games against Goa, Services and Meghalaya. They also blanked out Mizoram in the semi-finals of the tournament before winning 6-5 in the penalty shootout.
1 – The Bengal side has in fact conceded just one goal in the whole of the tournament (including both the qualifying as well as the final stages) in regular play. The only team to penetrate their backline was Chattisgarh.
3 – The Santosh trophy will have a new winner after three years. The previous two editions of the tournament were won by Services.
6 – Bengal last won the competition six editions back when Shabbir Ali led the troops to a record 31st trophy, 23 more than the next name on the list, Punjab.
13 – This will be Goa’s 13th appearance in a Santosh Trophy final. They have won the trophy five times in the past and have come out second-best on seven occasions.
17 – Goa are the highest scorers in this year’s Santosh Trophy. The Goans won their qualifying group emphatically as they scored 12 unanswered goals as they 8-0 and 4-0 against Daman & Diu and Madhya Pradesh respectively. The only team to have blanked them are their tomorrow’s opponent – West Bengal.
21 – This is the first time that Goa has hosted the Santosh Trophy since 1996. In that tournament, it was again Bengal and Goa who reached the final. The final was a memorable one but a heartbreaking one for the hosts as Bhaichung Bhutia led the Bengal team to a memorable in front of a vociferous crowd at Madgaon.
27 – Goa won the Santosh trophy on their own turf for the first time 27 years back in 1990 when former national skipper Bruno Coutinho led Goa to the trophy. They defeated Kerala in the final with Coutinho and Thomas Kushboo scoring the goals to seal the deal in front of a rapturous 24,000 home fans.
44 – This will be Bengal’s 44th appearance in the final of the Santosh Trophy. They have won the tournament 31 times whilst coming out as runners-up on 12 occasions.
