Siliguri: Mizoram stunned five-time champions Kerala 3-1 while Maharashtra beat Uttarakhand 3-2 on the opening day of the Santosh Trophy football tournament final round at the Kanchenjunga Stadium here on Monday.
Lalzofolai, Zico and Ronald scored for Mizoram in the Group A match, which was locked goalless at half time.
Nasaruddin pulled one back for Kerala, who were also the runners-up in the last edition.
In another Group A fixture, Maharashtra got the better of Uttarakhand in a tightly-contested match.
Allan Dias (37th minute), Mohammed Shabaz (43rd) and Santosh Koli (88th) scored for Maharashtra, while, for Uttarakhand, Ashok Singh (19th) and Sher Singh (68th) found the target.
Ten teams have been divided into two groups of five with the top two sides from each group advancing to the semifinals.
Group A has defending champions Services, last year’s runners-up Kerala, Maharashtra, Mizoram and Uttarakhand.
Group B consists of 31-time champions West Bengal, Punjab, Railways, Goa and Tamil Nadu.
The final is slated to take place on March 9 at the same venue.
Mizoram, the only state team from the North East in the final round (Railways also qualified from the NE Zone), will next play on February 28 against Maharashtra.
With only two of the five teams progressing to the last-fou, Mizoram have done themselves no harm in winning their first fixture in a confident fashion and have thus taken the early lead in the Group A table.
Mizoram have never won the Santosh title before, with Manipur being the only team from the region ever to have lifted the trophy, in 2001.
On Wednesday, thrice champions Railways will play Tamil Nadu, while Goa (who are five-time winners) will take on Punjab, who have won the competition eight times. (Agencies)
