I haven’t got the team I wanted, says Prasanta

Faridabad: Gone are the days when everything in Santosh Trophy used to revolve around Bengal. The 29-time champions, who once dominated the national championship for years, are now just an ordinary side reduced to play the preliminaries along with the minnows of Indian football.

But, then, Bengal have only themselves to blame for their clearly demoted status in the Santosh Trophy. The last time Bengal made a triumphant return to Calcutta from the tournament was in 1999 when they massacred a crack Goa side 5-0 in the final. Since then, Bengal’s graph has been a fast diminishing one.

There is little hope that the team from the Mecca of Indian football would be able to make a turnaround when the 61st edition of Santosh Trophy kicks off with the Bengal-Rajasthan Cluster II fixture at the sector 12 stadium in this Haryana township on Thursday morning at 8.30 am. Effectively the third team from the state after top clubs refused to release footballers, Prasanta Banerjee’s boys should be lucky to clear the barriers for the quarter final league.

Having arrived in Faridabad on Tuesday night, the Bengal team management remained busy throughout the morning to find alternative accommodation for the squad. “The one provided by the organisers lacked basis facilities, so we had to shift to a nearby hotel,” said Bachchu Gupta, Bengal manager.

Bengal coach Banerjee was clearly disappointed with the composition of his squad, but was cautious not to sound pessimistic when asked about his team’s chances in the championship. “I did not get the team I wanted, but I hope these boys will prove their mettle at the crucial juncture.

Most of them, barring a few, don’t even get a chance to play regularly for their respective club sides. For them this is a wonderful opportunity to attract attention,” Banerjee said about his nearly unknown bunch of players.

Banerjee himself has played Santosh Trophy 15 times and won it on 10 occasions. “Those were the days when anything beyond a victory in the final was beyond our imagination. Now I am only concentrating on the first match against Rajasthan,” he said after returning from a light practice in the evening. “I first hope to clear the Cluster and then think about the possible qualification match against Services.”

Likely starting XI

Sandeep Nandy; Bijoy Basfor, Naru Gopal Hait, Madhusudan Majumdar and Shyam Mondal; Sasthi Duley, Suman Dutta and Ratan Das; Gauranga Dutta, Tariq Ahmed and Vimal Pariyar.