In the fight for supremacy among the northeastern teams, Ukhrul Higher Secondary School from Manipur pounded Sudhannya Debbarma Memorial HS School from Tripura 6-0 at the Dr. Ambedkar Stadium while Government High School from Mizoram and Namchi Public School from Sikkim drew 1-1 at the NWC grounds in the ongoing U-17 Junior Boys 57th Subroto Cup International Football Tournament.
In other group matches in the morning, Delhi’s Air Force Bal Bharti School beat M.W.E Hr School from Bihar 7-0, Junior National Talent Scouting Project JLN Stadium (SAI) produced a 2-0 win over Shri Guru Govind Singh Sports College from UP, Indian Railways annihilated Government Senior Secondary School (Car Nicobar) 11-0 and DG NCC beat Bangladesh Defence Shaheen College 1-0.
GLAMOUR QUOTIENT
In contrast, the evening matches, involving some of the big foreign clubs, added a definite glamour quotient to the tournament with the crowd finally settling in. The National Football Team from Afghanistan overcame a tough Jalan Harsono RM Komplek 1-0 when the Indonesian side gifted away a goal in the 63rd minute, courtesy an imprudent back pass from defender Julyano Poataunan.
Pune FC just managed to score a 1-0 triumph over Central Coast Mariners FC (Australia) when B. Hunthaglun scored past the advancing Aussie goalkeeper in the 44th minute to claim all 3 points. Club Atletico Paraneanse, Curitiba, Brazil, defeated DSK Shivajians LIFA 2-1, with all the goals coming in the second session.
The Brazilian club and DSK matched each other in energy and moves for most of the game but a 48th-minute strike by Laldawngkma handed DSK the lead. Four minutes later, the Brazilian boys found their groove and equalised through Pedro. Emumuel Silva scored five minutes from time to give DSK all 3 points.
In the last match of the day, Tata Football Academy, Jamshedpur, overcame Delhi Dynamos FC 2-1. Manisama scored back-to-back goals in the 10th and 22nd minute for TFA but Pritam pulled one back in the 29th minute. However, the second half saw no action and TFA efficiently hung on to their slim lead.
The Manipur-Tripura match took as many as 30 minutes to reach a crescendo when Manipur’s Mayon Kaping scored the team’s first goal. Just as the teams were preparing for the break, Khagatar Tongshan added to the tally in injury time. Sitting pretty with a 2-0 lead, the Manipur boys returned to strike four more through C. Ayat, Tongshan, Kaping and Thotzanpui Hithung to complete the rout.
In comparison, in the other match, it was Mizoram who took the lead through Lalcuhawma in the 18th minute, only to have it cancelled out by Guirmee S Bhutia in the 54th.
SANJU’S HAT-TRICK
Karan was the star striker for AFBBS as he netted four goals. He was ably supported by teammates Vedik, Ajay and Sanjeet.
Similarly, Sanju Barman was the hero for the Railways High School from Siliguri with five goals, which included a hat-trick, while six other goals were shared by Joydip Das, Abhijit Sarkar, Sayan Sarkar, Argha Das and Kingshuk Datta (2).
Another Delhi win saw SAI emerge comfortable winners courtesy a brace from Rohit Danu. In NCC Vs Bangladesh, Suman Dutta found the net in the 28th minute which ultimately proved to be the winner as his side held on gamely to the slender lead for the rest of the game.
