Assam to face Kerala in Santosh opener today; We are in tough group: Subam Rabha

Our Sports Reporter

GUWAHATI: Assam to face Kerala in their opening group league match of the 77th Santosh Trophy Football which will kick off at the Golden Jubilee Stadium in Yupia (Itanagar) on Wednesday. Assam are placed in group ‘A’ along with Kerala, Goa, Meghalaya, Services and host Arunachal Pradesh.

Assam qualified to the main round from group ‘D’ playing very good soccer throughout the competition. Assam won their all five group league matches in the qualifying round and also didn’t concede a single goal.

However head coach of Assam team Subam Rabha today admits that they are in a very tough group and they have to raise their level if the team really want to do something good in the competition.

Talking to The Sentinel over telephone Rabha said, “ We are in a very tough group. All top teams of the country like Goa, Kerala, Services and Meghalaya are in our side. The other team, Arunachal Pradesh, is a local outfit and the support of the entire crowd will be with them. So I feel it will be better for us to go with one game at a time.”

Meanwhile the competition will be held in synthetic turf and players may face trouble adjusting to it, particularly at the initial stage of the championship. However Rabha is not worried. “We are not playing there alone. All the teams in the championship will play on the same turf and so there is no advantage to any team,’ said Rabha.

It may be mentioned here that a total of 37 matches will be played due to the expansion of the knockout stage, where the top four teams from each group will progress to the quarter-finals. The ongoing I-League 2 season has taken a break to allow players to represent their states in the Santosh Trophy.

Also Read: Assam team leaves for Itanagar to participate National Hero Santosh Trophy 

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