SAT boys stunning show may not shake up Kerala’s Santosh Trophy team in any way

The Sports Academy Tirur boys may have shocked the mighty Kerala Police in the Kerala Premier League semifinal here on Thursday night but that is not likely to shake up the Kerala football team for the Santosh Trophy’s final phase in any way.

In fact, the youngsters’ impressive performance may have come a bit late to help their cause. After losing the first three matches of the super-six phase, SAT won the next two and made it to the semifinal where it came up with a magical second half.

“That was a big upset, especially after the Police had won so many matches. The SAT players, they are young blood, they played with spirit, their speed and counter-attacking were very good but they don’t have players who are of extraordinary quality,” said Satheevan Balan, the head coach of Kerala’s Santosh Trophy team  on Friday.

“This (Kerala squad) is a team that has already been selected. We need to make changes only if somebody is performing better than the players in the team. But to motivate youngsters, if there a player who is really good then we will give him a chance.”

Satheevan pointed out that he would have had a bigger pool of players to pick from if the Kerala Premier League had concluded earlier.

“If the KPL had been held earlier, we could have done better scouting from this event, we have many talented players here but it is a little late to select them. It would have been ideal if they had finished the KPL by at least January 25, before our camp started.”

The Santosh Trophy’s final phase begins in Arunachal Pradesh on February 21, the Kerala camp moved from Kothamangalam in Ernakulam to Kannur three days ago and the team is likely to be announced on February 14 but Satheevan is still waiting for many of his leading players to join the camp. The KPL final, between defending champion Kerala United and SAT, will be held here on February 11.