Late last year, despite winning the Santosh Trophy’s South Zone qualifiers in Kochi, Kerala’s head coach Bino George was not a happy man.
“Not satisfied,” said George about his team’s performance in the qualifiers. The passing was not up to the mark and the defence was an issue too.
“So again, I went and watched a few matches. I knew their (new young players) quality but I wanted to watch them again in the Kerala (Premier) League, how they handled the tough matches,” said George here on Wednesday.
Ironing out chinks
The Kerala Football Association also gave the head coach a free hand in selecting players for the Santosh Trophy’s final phase. And the postponement of the final round, by two months from February to April, helped the coach work on the chinks and also test the young players.
All that played a big role in Kerala winning the 75th edition of the Santosh Trophy in Malappuram early this week. The KFA, in association with the Mather Group, felicitated the team at a city hotel here on Wednesday.
The KFA president Tom Jose, secretary P. Anilkumar, AIFF vice president K.M.I. Mather, Opposition Leader V.D. Satheesan, Law Minister P. Rajeeve, Kochi Mayor M. Anilkumar, GCDA Chairman K. Chandran Pillai were among those who spoke at the event.
