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IMPHAL: A keen contest is expected when former champion Maharashtra takes on last years semi-finalist Railways in Group B of the 58th National Football Championship for LG Santosh Trophy at Khuman Lampak Stadium on Sunday.
Maharashtra, with 1-1 draw against Services in the Group B of the first quarter-final match, looked all set to win against Railways, which has a large number of good players of Bengal soccer clubs.
Coach Alphonso Santiago for Maharashtra said his boys are keen to take on Railways with a new strategy to be employed in the contest. Striker Aziz Quereshi, wingers Anthony Fernandes and Altafuddin Hamid, the last scored a goal to level against Services, are in good form for the side, he added.
Kamal Thapa, Nausad Moosa, Osbern DSouza and Jinto Jose in defence line and midfielders Dennis George, Stephen Dias and Mahato are likely to exert energy against Railways to make a big difference, the coach hoped.
Railways coach Shankar Maitra arrived here with his full side including goalie Sangrame Mukherjee from East Bengal, India international defender Satish Bharti from Mohun Bagan, Janak Basumatary from Assams NF Railway, Gurminder Singh, Subashis Roy Choudhury of East Bengal, Dipankar Roy from East Bengal, Kasif Jamal and Partho Mitra to name some from the side.
Three-time winner Railways had bowed out in the semi-final match against Goa 2-4 last year.
Manipur scores
HOSTS Manipur registered a 4-1 victory over Orissa while Karnataka humbled Punjab 2-0 in the two quarter-final league matches of the 58th National Football championship for the LG Santosh Trophy.
Mahendra Mani (22nd minute) and S Sunil (30th) scored for Karnataka in a fast-paced Group C encounter at the Khuman Lempak Stadium here to help their team win full points against Punjab.
In Group D, Manipur led Orissa 2-1 at the half-time in the game which saw an overall dominance by the local team with only occasional counterattack by the visitors.
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