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A fortnight of meticulous hard work, playing on consecutive days and overcoming opponents who were as inspired as them, it finally boils down to this for Govt. Chawngfianga Middle School, Mizoram and Esteqal School, Kabul, Afghanistan. For, in less than an hour from now, the boys from the aforementioned institutions will take the field for perhaps the biggest match of their lives, the final of the 56th edition of the coveted Subroto Cup.
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Into its 56th edition, the tourney saw a strong participatory field this year, one which ushered some sparkling display of talent from the 30 teams here at the capital’s Ambedkar Stadium. Thus in what is seen as the cusp of the bonanza, the boys from Mizoram and Kabul will vie to win their maiden titles at what is deemed Asia’s biggest event at this level.
Talking about the match, former India captain and a ‘Subroto Boys’ scout, Bhaskar Ganguly said, “Both the teams have done brilliantly to reach the final. Especially the boys from Kabul, to come away from their country and exhibit the maturity and poise that they have, it’s extremely commendable.
The Chawngfianga kids have done really well too in fact. As we have seen over the years, teams from the North East have dominated the Subroto Cup and this year it’s no different.”
The venue as I am being told should be packed to the capacity today as apart from the kids, the likes of Roberto Carlos and Florent Malouda will be present in the stadium to enthral the audience.
Commenting upon the above, Ganguly added, “It will be a massive boost for the kids to play in front of their heroes. Not many people are bestowed with such an opportunity, they should definitely try and make it count.”
Asked to choose his pick for the title, the man who found Bhaichung Bhutia diplomatically signed off with a grin and the customary, “May the best team win” epilogue!
The organisers have linked up with youtube to stream the game live Worldwide. The match can be viewed below:
