In what could have been an eye opener and a shocking result to all India Football lovers in the country, Champions of AIFF Youth League for two consecutive years Minerva Punjab FC defeated India U-17 World Cup team in a highly dominated encounter at the Trinity Football Ground, Benolim in Goa. The win comes as no surprise to all the Minerva Fans and faithful as they are well aware of the potential its U-17 team possesses and the talent at its disposal, meanwhile India U-17 newly appointed the Portuguese gaffer Luís Norton de Matos will now have a lot of homework to do with less than 8 months remaining for the U-17 FIFA World Cup to be played at home.
Jackson Singh the man who led Minerva Punjab FC to victory in the recently concluded AIFF Youth League was given the armband while Manipur lad Komal Thatal was chosen to lead the National team. The game started on quite an impressive note for the visiting Minerva team who made continues attacks into their opposition's box with some wonderful skills on display ripping apart the Indian defence.
Attacker Nongdamba Noarem and Baoringdao Bodo anchored quite well from the midfield as they managed to create some fantastic moves for Amarjeet Mishra lacked the final touch. Former India U-15 attacker Amarjeet Mishra managed to keep the National teams backline busy throughout the evening as he assisted a class 1-2-1 flick for Bodo who nodded home the lead for the visitors in as early as 20 minutes where the warriors dominated 70% of the possession.
The visitors missed quite a few chances that could have added on to the scoreboard as Baoringdao Bodo's powerful header and a couple of Amarjeet Mishra's screamer missed the target by inches. The game took an ugly turn in the final minutes of the first half as India's Mizoram born Midfielder Lalengmawia was cautioned for a harsh tackle during the proceedings. Both teams went for a lime break with Minerva leading with a 1-0 scoreline.
The second half saw a much determined Minerva Punjab FC colt looking to add the numbers after a powerful half-time talk by their Spaniard gaffer Jose Carlos Hevia and Manager cum CEO Ranjit Bajaj in the dressing room. as the boys went roaring from the whistle go! Skipper Jackson Singh took the first dig at the goal in the second half as his powerful shot from quite a distance missed the woodwork by inches.
Gaffer Jose Carlos Hevia soon brought in Bedeshwor and Arjun in favour of Henba and Krishna to pump up the attacking force with over Half-an-hour remaining for the final whistle but their efforts were in vain as they lacked the final touch. A total of 2 clear penalties were also denied to the warriors which would have given the Minervans a much better lead. The game ended with the scoreboard remaining unchanged as Minerva emerged victorious at the final whistle, courtesy to Boaringdo Bodo's strike.
