Hunt is on for the best

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Having figured out that the Kerala squad has a dearth of quality men, state selectors are hunting for talent at the State club championship in Palakkad. Their mission is to assemble a strong team for the 66th Santosh Trophy Football Championship to be held in Odisha from May 11 to 27.

When the fixture of the national championship was announced, Kerala was in cluster II with Tripura and Himachal Pradesh. In addition to the 20-member squad, which was put together after the senior State event held in Thiruvananthapuram, around 15-20 more players are expected to be added.

“The club championship usually brings out the best in players and it will be the right place to look for talent. Hopefully, we will be able to spot some good players and add to the existing squad before the final camp,” said M. Rajeev, who was last year’s Kerala coach and currently one of the three selectors. The final Santosh Trophy camp is expected to begin on April 10, though the location — Thrissur or Ernakulam — is yet to be decided.

“With the championship beginning on May 11, we will have nearly 28 days of camp,” said Anil Kumar, secretary of the Kerala Football Association. “Also we had a 10-day preparatory camp ahead of the Nayanar Trophy.

We figured out the drawbacks after the Kozhikode event and want to plug those weak links,” he said. The state never had a good run in the premier event since it won the trophy in 2004. Last year, it crashed out in the pre-quarterfinals, losing to Manipur in penalties.

“It is also learnt that the Kerala team will play another tournament before the Santosh Trophy, though it has not been finalised,” said Rajeev.

The coach for the Santosh Trophy is yet to be announced. M. M. Jacob, who trained the State for E.K. Nayanar Cup, is likely to continue in the post, say sources.

Lack of preparation was blamed for the poor show by the State footballers in the previous editions of the tournament. As the State seems to have learned a lesson from prior experiences by kicking off the preparations early, let us hope for the best.