Vishal to lead Karnataka in Khelo India Youth Games

Vishal R will lead the 20-member Karnataka state football team that will take part in the Khelo India Youth Games to be held in Indore, Madhya Pradesh from February 1-10. Karnataka will take on West Bengal on Feb 2 followed by matches against Odisha (Feb 4) and Meghalaya (Feb 6) in the preliminary round. 

Karnataka managed to send a strong squad comprising of several players plying their trade for clubs in BDFA League league - 7 from Super Division, 2 from A Division, and 3 from B Division. 

Squad: 

Vishal R (captain), Arjun Gowda (vice captain), Karthik S, Soham S Oulkar, KR Shashwath, Prateek Kashyap, Aniketh BP, Tanish Tamanna, Rowan James, Vedanth Singh, Nivruthi, Rayaan Shakeer, Amogh G, R Neil Joseph, Ishaan Raghunanda, Aditya Kalasur, Abhishek S Pawar, Yohan Victor Britto, Allen Dhammu, Gautham Rajesh

Coach: Xavier Vijay Kumar Asst Coach: Alex Praveen 

Final 

• Feb 10, 2023: Kerala 2 (Kiran K-43’, Sreeraj CP-31’) vs Karnataka 0 

Semi Final 

• Feb 6, 2023: Punjab 2 (Karan Singh Manota-36', 45') vs Karnataka 3  (Abhishek SP-18'[P], Vishal R-45'+1', Ishaan Raghunanda-77') 
• Feb 6, 2023: Meghalaya 3 Vs Kerala 5   

Group B 

• Feb 2, 2023: Karnataka 3 (Abhishek Pawar-29', 85', Amogh Ajay Gachhi-39') Vs Bengal 2 (Pritam Biswas-58', Bipradip Mandal-76')
• Feb 4, 2023: Karnataka 3 (Ishaan Raghunanda-21', Abhishek SP-57', Aditya Kalasur-90') Vs Odisha 1 (Wongden Lama-61')
• Feb 6, 2023: Karnataka 1 (Abhishek Pawar-4') Vs Meghalaya 2 (Cannyson Kharnaior-40’, Blanangshngain Khongsdam-68’) 

Bengaluru FC defeat Students Union 2-0

Bengaluru FC Media 

A first half brace from striker Pawan Srinivas was enough as a very young Bengaluru FC side secured a 2-0 victory over Students Union FC in the BDFA Super Division at the Bangalore Football Stadium, in Bengaluru, on Monday. Not a single first team player was part of the Blues’ side, who are undefeated in the Division, as U19s coach Louis Nickson took charge at the touchline with a side comprising just academy players, overseen by Head of Youth Development Matthew Holland.

The Blues started from the word go with Rishabh Agarwal and Pradeep Ramesh pulling the strings in midfield as full-backs Niraad Bose and Prashanth Kalinga provided width down the flanks. It didn’t take long for Bengaluru to score with Pawan tapping home from inside the box after Kalinga’s inch-perfect cross from the right flank in the very first minute.

Students Union attempted to restore parity but it wasn’t to be as the Blues piled the pressure, eager to double their lead. The second goal came in the 23rd minute when Rushi Anto was brought down for a free-kick at the edge of the Students Union box after some neat interplay by the Blues in midfield. Rishabh’s perfectly executed set piece was nodded home by Pawan as he grabbed his second goal of the game.

Into the second half and holding a 2-0 advantage, the Blues kept the pressure on the Union defence with Rushi and Pradeep combining well in midfield. Students Union had a rare chance when striker Stephen found himself at the end of a cross from Madan but his header was inches wide of Srijit in the BFC goal.

The Blues best chance of the second half came when a cross from Shelton Paul late in the second half found Blues’ substitute striker Gopan, who peeled free of the Union defence, but his shot was miscued as the referee blew the whistle on an impressive performance from the young Blues.

“The boys performed really well today to get the three points as Students Union are a very good side. We’re looking to keep this performance in mind as we go forward in the Division and the aim is to keep another clean sheet and put on another positive performance when we take on Ozone FC next week,” said U19s coach Louis Nickson following the game.

The Blues’ next BDFA Super Division tie will see them face Ozone FC on the 12th of January. 

Xavier to lead Karnataka’s charge in Santosh Trophy, face Andaman & Nicobar on Tuesday

The 20-strong squad of Karnataka left for Chennai yesterday to participate in

the 68^TH Santosh Trophy. The team is led by illustrious Xavier Vijaykumar and will be playing their South zone qualifiers at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai. 

Karnataka start their campaign against minnows Andaman & Nicobar on Tuesday, January 28. The other teams in their group include, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and previous edition runners-up Kerala. 

The team seems to be having a mix of experience and youth, after missing last two edition of Santosh, captain Xavier Vijaykumar males a comeback. Junior international Anto Xavier is a new inclusion, however, owing to a last-minute call to the national Under-22 team, management could not include former Indian Arrows boys defender Shankar and medio Deepak Prakash. 

Shankar has recently signed for Bengaluru FC and Deepak is plying his trade in Hindustan Eagles. 

Team 

Goal Keeper: Thomas, (DSK Shivajians), Razzak (HAL), Fayaz (Mangalore Dist.)

Defender: Prakash B, Jai Kumar (HAL), Chetan (Income Tax), Lokesh C (CIL), Arun Pondey (HAL), Nikhil (CIL), Imran (Chirtradurga Dist.)

Midfielder: Ngurilal Hmar (MEG), Don Bosco (BFC), Vignesh (Hindustaqn Eagles), Anto Xavier, (Student Union), Karthigyean (HAL), Tiken Singh (BEML), Xavier Vijayakumar (CAPTAIN-HAL)

Striker: Gopi (HAL), Stephen (Hindustan Eagles, Nanda (RWF), Vinu (Mangalore Dist.)

Manager - S Krishanaji Rao

Technical Director - R Thyagaraj

Coach - Aslam Khan

GK Coach - SS Shahi 

HAL back on the winning track

What started with a bang didn’t last long, the euphoria was slowing down, and the team was literally struggling and losing steam - 7 matches without a win! Finally, the boys in green were able to break the jinx – a nice morale boosting away win against Pune FC.

Blame it on the unavailability of the key players on crunch games or proper bench strength, HAL was ending up on the losing side. However, today they got their full strength, with wily Xavier VijayKumar back on the side and fielding promising junior national player Shankar S on loan.

Pune FC started on a confident note with Keita Mandjou foraying HAL defense. Pune FC custodian Balaji made a mess of the situation in the 20th minute, however, HAL failed to capitalize the situation.

4 minutes later, HAL scored the only goal of the match much to the disbelief of the crowd. Xavier VijayKumar rolled the ball for Shankar S, which the later passed to Murali J. Murali put the cross for Hamza, which the Nigerian recruit made no mistake in heading to the goal.

HAL showed urgency and were calling the shots in the rest of the first-half. Murali played the game of his life and was in absolute control of the midfield. Perhaps this was something that was apparently missing in the PuneFC game.

Second half saw a defiant HAL packing the midfield. Hamza was brought down in the middle with RC Prakash playing as a lone striker. Xavier Vijaykumar was supporting RC from the right flank.

PuneFC made several attack in the second half, yet they failed to open the goalmouth.

Xavier today was seen playing in his favorite position in the right-flank, he created several chances, and missed couple of sitters. He was adjudged the man of the match.

This victory will definitely help HAL to put a brave show against chart-leaders East Bengal, whom they play on January 22 at Kolkata. However, HAL will be missing the service of J Murali and Shrikant due to double booking.

Mumbai FC Halts HAL

Riding on back-to-back wins, the minnows, HAL and Mumbai FC locked horns at the historical city of Kolhapur. The Mumbai-based outfit perfectly used the only opportunity of the match and garnered 3 points. This is their 3rd win from as many matches. 

For HAL, it was their first loss, the result could have gone in HAL’s favor.  They missed few half-chances, and one of RC’s shot was brilliantly saved by their keeper.

Team truly missed the service of Xavier VikayKumar. Ever-dependable Xavier was not playing for HAL today after he pulled his hamstring in one practice session in Bangalore few days back. Also, yesterday in Kolhapur, the injury was aggravated in the practice session. Looking at the immensity of the I-league, the team management decided not to field him. 

The goal for the Essel Group-owned team came from the foreign recruit Ebi Theophilus Sukore in 76th minute. Left-wing midfielder, Nicolas Rodrigues put a pass for Ebi, HAL defense failed to pick him, Ebi came from the middle, and scored the only goal of the match.

HAL by all means played a decent game and their opponent for today never looked as strong as the result depicts.  Their dream return to the I-league division 1 were arrested by Mumbai FC, they were tad unlucky today, and the opponent utilized only chance they got in the game.

Next match:

• Round IV: Saturday, December 18, 2010 Vs Viva Kerala

  

HAL return in style in I-League, JCT pay the price of being overconfident

A perfect start one could have ever imagined! 

Riding on an early goal from the wily Xavier Vijaykumar, HAL made a staring return in the big stage of Indian football. After a brief hiatus in I-League, the minnows from Bangalore have done it all themselves.  

 “Unknown quantity is always a better choice than the known”, who else will be thinking that other than R Thyagaraj, the coach of the victors. Coach sounded very tentative when GardenCitySoccerStars met him less than a week ago during the practice session, which was quite apparent, as he was just a few weeks old in the office.

Talking to GardenCitySoccerStars from Gurgaon, coach was joyous in saying, “Glad that we have garnered 3 full points from an away game. Our boys put in a combined effort, played a great game, and all credit goes to them!”

HAL returns to Bangalore on Sunday and then they move to Kolkata to play against Mohun Bagan on Wednesday, December 8.
 

The lone goal of the match came in the 13th minute. S Muralidharan passed a long ranger to Xavier, chasing the ball down the right flank, Xavier dribbled one defender and moved into the penalty box, where he fooled another defender with his trademark left leg dribble, and then placed the ball to the goal.
 

HAL thoroughly dominated the first half, missing as many as 3 sitters. Playing with only one foreigner, JCT tried hard in the second half, however, good defending by HAL thwarted their plan.

Xavier was at its best even after the match, “JCT underestimated us - they had no preparation at all, and took us too lightly!”

“Even they were confident that a thin-framed player (like me) could not score that goal”, Xavier adds in jest.

5 more away matches to play in the month of December. They have made a great start, now it’s all about maintaining composure and momentum.

HAL on course; BEML blows golden opportunity

Seems like the city giant HAL just waked up in time and thrashed Golden Threads 5-0. In the other match played today, Titanium held BEML to a 1-1 draw. The other city team wasted many chances to gain the top spot in the group A.

HAL shrugged-off the bad memories of the last two matches, they meant business right from the offset. Nigerian striker Fredrick Okwagbe drew the first blood in the 12th minute of the game.

Right through the first-half, the ball was mostly seen in the Golden’s end. In 24th minute,  Satish Kumar (Junior) missed one easy chance to score from a defense scuffle.

HAL took a 2-0 lead in the 40th minute from a corner. Rajendra Prasad’s corner was initially received by Xavier Vijaykumar, which was relayed to Fredrick, and Fredrick’s powerful header was good enough to gave his team a 2-0 lead.

Couple of minutes later, HAL keeper Amar Deb made a complete mess of the situation. He missed the flight and couldn’t hold on to the ball. The goal was unguarded; it could have been a goal for Golden, however, the Golden striker failed to connect the ball.

HAL today displayed a much improved game. They started the 2nd half with same urgency to finish match in style and was it clearly evident in all the departments.

Meanwhile Fredrick scored his hat trick in the 4th minute of 2nd half.

In a counter attack, Golden Thread striker, Sanjay Vennara’s powerfuljavascript:void(0) shot from the left of the box was saved by Amar Deb.

HAL should have scored few more goals. Fredrick and mid-fielder Jotin Singh came very close to scoring. In many occasion, HAL toyed with rival’s defense - but either failed to get past the keeper or put the ball away from the goal.

To keep the resources fresh, skipper Xavier along with few other key players were replaced in the early 2nd half.

Gopi, who replaced Xavier scored the 4th goal in the 88th minute. Medio Vishal Kumar tried passing the ball to Gopi, Golden keeper failed to grab the ball, miscues it, finally Gopi snatched the ball the placed to the goal.

It was Gopi again who scored the 5th goal. In the 92nd minute, Jotin Singh took a shot, which was bounced by the keeper, an alert Gopi collected the ball and placed to the opponent’s goal.

It was an exhibition of missed chances displayed in the BEML – Titanium match. BEML dominated the first-half, however, they failed to convert from the many chances that came their way.

BEML midfield suffered a blow when veteran Mahendra Mani was replaced at the later stages of the first-half. Hayath Khalander was brought in at the central midfield position. Hayath, who primarily plays as an attacking midfielder was effective in the first half.

BEML took lead in the 55th minute, a penalty was awarded to BEML when Cleetus handled the ball inside the box. Defender Alesh Shamaki made no mistake in placing the ball to the extreme right of the goal.

Their joy was short-lived!

Mani’s service was majorly missed in the 2nd half. There was no one to hold the ball for BEML; there was a flurry of attack from Titanium from the middle. In the 65th minute Boniface crossed the ball for Abdul Hameed, Hameed to the much delight of Titanium, headed the ball to the goal.

A win should have ensured BEML a birth to the final round of the 2nd  division I-League. Now, much would depend on the outcome of the result between tomorrows match between, Malabar United and SBT.

HAL plays their last match of the group against SBT on next Wednesday, April 14, 4 pm. BEML plays their last match on Thursday, April 15, 4 pm.

Result:

• HAL 5 (Fredrick Okwagbe 12', 40', and 49' and Gopi 88' and 90+2') beat Golden Threads 0
• BEML 1 (Alesh Shamaki-55') versus Titanium 1 (Abdul Hameed-65')

Mondays Match:

Malabar United versus SBT, 4 pm

KSFA Facilitates Xavier VijayKumar

KSFA today felicitated HAL captain Xavier VijayKumar, winner of the Karnataka State Government’s Ekalavya award for the year 2008.