Santosh Trophy remains supply line of talent: Ali
Shabbir Ali guided 32- time champions Bengal to victory in 2009- 10 after a gap of 10 years
Santosh Trophy may have lost sheen as the national football championship but twotime winning coach Shabbir Ali believes it remains a supply line for players at the national level.
Ali guided 32- time champions Bengal to victory in 2009- 10 after a gap of 10 years. Bengal not only reclaimed the trophy but players like Arnab Mondal, Robin Singh, Denson Devadas and Shankar Oraon established themselves at the national level.
In 2011 was bestowed with the prestigious Dhyan Chand award.
Ali was the coach of the Telengana team that failed to qualify this year.
“I was missing two of my key players. Abhijit Mondal, who sustained an arm injury during training, while Lalkamal Bhowmick was also left out,” Ali was quoted as saying by PTI.
The 72nd edition of the tournament begins on Monday.
“Singh had just graduated from Tata Football Academy, then there was Devadas and Dhanrajan from Kerala. All of them were plying trades in Kolkata and were unwanted by their respective states. All of them rose the occasion and came into national reckoning. Many youngsters came up from the tournament.”
Speaking about the relevance of the tournament, he said, “I’ve always maintained, Santosh Trophy is one of the key tournaments of Indian football. I had said this during my interaction with former India coach Bob Houghton. There may be I-League and the Indian Super League, but there are many states which do not have any club in the two top tier tournaments. Santosh Trophy has a true pan-India presence to scout talents.”
Ali believes Bengal can replicate their success, even as the current team coach Ranjan Chowdhury has said they are under prepared going into the tournament.
“Every time Bengal play there is pressure. In a team game, you never get a perfect scenario but have to utilise your resources.”