Kerala’s Santosh Trophy opener today; Team must drive 50km at 6 am to reach venue

Kerala begin their Santosh Trophy final round against Punjab at the Silapathar Football Stadium in Assam on Thursday. The match will kick off at 9 am and can be watched live on the FIFA+ channel.

Kerala would want to turn the disappointment of losing last season's final to West Bengal by making a solid start to their Group B contest. Head coach Shafeeq Hassan is aiming to add the Santosh Trophy title to his National Games gold. Captain Sanju G must be eager to lift the Santosh Trophy a second time after being part of the winning side in 2022.

Bengal already got a statement win to kickstart their Group A campaign by drubbing Nagaland 4-0 earlier on Wednesday. "We want to make a good start, and we have prepared well for it," Captain Sanju told Onmanorama. Kerala have won the Santosh Trophy seven times with the last win coming at Manjeri in Malappuram in 2022.

The centre-back, with the experience of five Santosh Trophy campaigns, is confident in the squad, though at least nine of his teammates are new to the championship. "The Santosh Trophy is a tough tournament, where the matches come quickly and you need to focus on your recovery. But all our players are experienced, so we are quite confident," Sanju said.

Long drive in the morning
The Kerala squad reached Dibrugarh in a flight two days ago. The team had prepared for the conditions in Assam by training at the hill station of Wayanad.

While the preparations and the journey from home went smoothly, Kerala are in for a bumpy ride, starting from the first match. That is because the team are put up in the industrial city of Dibrugarh and their first match is in a town called Silapathar, 50 km away.

"We must start quite early tomorrow, possibly around 6 am," said head coach Shafeeq Hassan. "A couple of days after, we have to go on an 80 km drive in the morning to reach the match venue. But this is our Indian football and we cannot complain," said Hassan.

Kerala will travel to Dhakuakhana, which is much further from Silapathar, for their third Group B match against Odisha on January 26. Before that, they play the Railways at Silapathar on January 24.