The third day of the Subroto Cup International Football Tournament was filled with goals as the participating teams looked to get some crucial wins under their belt in order to qualify for the quarterfinals. The match-day three saw a total of eight matches which were played at two different venues in New Delhi. It had been a great start to the tournament for the likes of Afghanistan, Reliance FYC, Maharashtra, and Chhattisgarh, who made a huge statement by winning their first game of the tournament.
There was another exciting line-up of matches scheduled for the third day where high-flyers Afghanistan took on a Chattisgarh side at the Ambedkar Stadium in an early kick-off, while Sikkim went up against a resurgent Bangladesh team. Reliance FYC had won their first game in an impressive manner against Manipur and were scheduled to play Lakshadweep at the New Willington Camp ground. There were five other matches which took part at the two venues.
First up, the Afghan boys from the Estegal school in Kabul showed why they are the team to beat at the Subroto Cup as they overpowered St. Xavier’s HSS from Chhattisgarh 3-0 in a one-sided affair in their Pool D match at Ambedkar Stadium. The Afghanistan team has been turning all the heads with their style of play which should stand them in good stead as they have accrued six points from their two games already.
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The game saw Afghanistan dominate their Indian opponents from the start as goals from Ali (3’), Mohammad Amin (21’) and Ebadullah (23’) were enough to complete the task in the first half itself. On the other hand, Chhattisgarh, who had started their campaign with a victory against the Air Force Bal Bharti School from New Delhi, failed to put up a good show and the loss could affect their chances of qualification for the quarter-finals.
Bangladesh also continued their fine form as they beat Sikkim’s Namchi Sports Hostel by a margin of 4-0 in the first of the two afternoon matches at the venue. A hattrick for Mohad Rahib and a solo goal from Mohammad Habibur saw the neighbour nation register their first win of the tournament in Pool B.
At the same venue, it was Goa’s turn to thump The Air Force School (TAFS) side from New Delhi by a huge margin of 9-0 in the same group as goals came from the boots of hattrick-scorer Harsh Patre, brace scorers Aditya Salgaonkar and Notham Rodrigues, while Richard Carvalho and Mevan Dias shared a goal each for the Goan outfit.
Four games took place at the New Wellington Camp ground, where a Kendriya Vidyalaya side from Gorakhpur defeated Madhya Pradesh 4-1 in a Pool C encounter, where the winners were lucky to have got an own-goal in their favour early on. In the first of two Pool A matches for the day, Assam showed a classy performance as they blanked out Maharashtra with an 8-0 win as striker Uday Shankar Bora scored an astounding six goals while his teammate Shakti Moran scored a brace.
In a late kick-off at the same venue, Reliance FYC from Mumbai thrashed Lakshadweep’s Government Senior HSS by 7-1 as M. Ranzak Singh struck three goals while other contributions came from Thoz Singh, who scored a brace while M.A. Laskar, Gulab scored one each for the Reliance side. Mohammad Sayeed was the lone goal scorer for Lakshadweep as he pulled one back before the final whistle.
