End of South Zone 2 National Qualifiers

Just a day after the city of Kochi hosted City Finals, in which German legend Lothar Matthäus was also in attendance, the beautiful coastal city conducted South Zone 2 National Qualifiers

Just a day after the city of Kochi hosted City Finals, in which German legend Lothar Matthäus was also in attendance, the beautiful coastal city conducted South Zone 2 National Qualifiers which saw the City Champions of Kochi, Kozhikode and Coimbatore fight for a spot in the National Championship.

On the opening day in Kochi’s Ambedkar Stadium, Coimbatore and Kozhikode’s City Champions squared up against each other. And the first encounter set the tone for the day which saw Govt Girls HSS (Coimbatore) getting the better of GVHSS (Kozhikode) and won 6-3. If that was high-scoring, the next one had even more goals in store when Kozhikode’s Senior Boys ran riot and registered a 16-0 triumph over their counterparts from Coimbatore. MSP HSS’ boys were dominant from the word go and kept scoring goals for fun against Sri Ragavendra Vidyalaya. The goal-scoring spree continued in the third game as well and once again, it was Kozhikode’s institute which came up trumps. The Junior Boys of NNMHSS, Chelambra slotted 22 goals against Khajamian HSS and announced their arrival in the RFYS National Qualifiers in style! Thus, a day which witnessed goals in abundance came to an end with Kozhikode’s Junior Boys and Senior Boys stamping their authority.

Close games were expected on the second day as recently crowned champions of Kochi (their finals were held two days back) faced the Champions of Coimbatore. Govt Girls HSS once again showed nerves of steel and in a hard-fought game against Sri Ayyankali Memorial School, won in penalties (3-2) and became the first team to get their National Championship ticket. The Senior Boys of Sri Ragavendra Vidyalaya who suffered a huge defeat the previous day, came back with a bang on the second day and edged past St. Joseph’s HSS (Kochi) and ended their RFYS campaign with a win. After two games which went right down to the wire, Nirmala College (Kochi) dominated the proceedings against MES College and registered a 3-0 victory in their National Qualifiers opener. The second day ended with Junior Boys of Tharbiyath Trust Vocational HSS winning 7-1 against Khajamian HSS. It was another disappointing day for Coimbatore’s Junior Boys Champions.

Three National Championship spots were still on offer. Kozhikode and Kochi’s City Champions were up against each other on the final day. The first game was a dead rubber in which the School Girls of GVHSS defeated Sri Ayyankali Memorial School. MSP HSS continued their dominance against St. Joseph’s HSS too as their 2-0 triumph helped them seal a National Championship berth. Kozhikode’s Senior Boys, NNMHSS, faced resistance from Kerala’s champions, but went on to register their second win of the National Qualifiers and in the process, booked their place in the National Championship. The final game of South Zone 2 National Qualifiers saw Nirmala College thumping Karunya Institute of Science and Technology 7-2. The final day was made even more special as Kerala Blasters Technical Director and former football player, Terry Phelan, graced the occasion with his presence and handed over the National Championship tickets to the winners.

Here are the teams from South Zone 2 who will be vying for top honours in the National Championship.

Junior Boys – MSP HSS, Kozhikode
School Girls – Govt Girls HSS, Coimbatore
Senior Boys – NNMHSS, Kozhikode
College Boys – Nirmala College, Kochi

End of South Zone 2 National Qualifiers