NCC players defeated girls from Manipur 2-1 to enter the Junior Girls (under-17) semifinals in the 57th Subroto Cup International Football Tournament at the Dr. Ambedkar Stadium here today.
In another quarterfinal that followed, the girls from Nagaland scored a facile 1-0 win over Delhi. But the two winners have a lot of time to brood over today’s match as they will clash with each other in the first semifinal to be played on October 8.
The NCC girls were too overcautious and it hampered their free-flowing attacking posture today. As a result, more than creating opportunities they waited for their opponents from Manipur to make mistakes, when their defense seemed a bit relaxed.
That was when their striker Van Lal Maoll scored, her first goal coming in the 20th minute and the winner in the 59th. But even before NCC found their target, Daya Devi had given the Manipur outfit lead with an 18th-minute goal. However, they could not push their rivals any further as they guarded their citadel very well.
In the second match, the Nagaland girls seemed happy to go through after Kithali struck in the 33rd minute. With hardly any goal-bearing moves emanating from the Delhi side the Nagaland girls were content with the solitary goal as they defended stoutly not to let the equalizer.
BKSP lift U-14 trophy
Bangladesh Krida Siksha Protisthan (BKSP) defeated Government Model School from Chandigarh 4-2, via penalty shootout, to lift the Sub-Junior Boys Under-14 trophy at the Dr. Ambedkar Stadium yesterday. With teams ending goalless after the regulation and 15 minutes of extra time, the fate of the squads were left to goalkeepers and Saiful Islam proved a worthy hero with two good saves for BKSP.
For winners, Tuhid-ul Islam, Mohammad Habibur Rahman, Alman Rahman and Abdul Kader converted while Usaf Ali Jibon missed the target. And for Chandigarh, only Balraj and Pawan scored while Karan Singh and Taison were thwarted, letting a big celebration in the Bangla camp even as Delhi Dynamos head coach Gianluca Zambrotta, along with a battery of its officials, applauded their efforts.
Goa’s Holy Spirit Institute High School received the fair play trophy.
Chief guest Air Marshal M.K.Malik AVSM VSM, who is also the vice-chairman of the Subroto Mukherjee Sports Education Society, gave away the trophy to the winners with guests from Delhi Dynamos’ president, Prashant Agarwall, chief technical officer Vishnu Madhu, head coach Gianluca Zambrotta, assistant coach Simone Barone and medical assistant Mari Cerra, joining the prize distribution ceremony.
