SK Abdul is West Bengal’s finest player at the 57th edition of the Subroto Cup International Football Tournament, but could not get on the scoresheet as his team surrendered a one-goal lead to Sikkim in the last game of the day at the Dr. Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi. The youngster plays in the number 10 role for the Bengal side but wears number 16 on his back.
However, the trickery and skills of Abdul strike the eye of the spectator who knows the game. The Bengali youngster has based his game at the Salt Lake academy in Kolkata and his style of play is similar to one great of the game, Lionel Messi. The youngster gets the ball from his defense or midfield, turns around, shows his skills and dribbles past defenders with a very swift touch, and passes the ball to his teammates who are in a better position to score, or goes at the goal himself if he finds the space.
But the youngster spoke about how he has been managing to play football alongside his studies. Abdul said, “I come from a poor background in Kolkata and hence have to focus on studies as well, to grow up into a successful human who can help his family.” The maturity in his voice, at such a young age, was very clear as he talked about how he dedicated this year to football. “I have been focussing on football this past year and studies have taken a back-seat. Therefore, I want to round off the year by winning the tournament for my side West Bengal as that would only justify me playing football instead of studying.”
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Abdul added that he was disappointed as he missed two chances of scoring in the game against Sikkim, and that he will be looking to improve his performance in the next game.
Earlier on the second day of the 57th edition of the Subroto Cup, 16 teams in the Sub-Junior Boys (Under-14) Tournament played their respective games at two separate venues in New Delhi. The most striking result of the day was the 3-1 victory of the Reliance FYC who beat the winners of the opening game yesterday, Manipur, in what was a very well fought game at the Dr. Ambedkar Stadium.
The Manipur team had started their league campaign on the front foot by defeating Assam yesterday with an impressive scoreline of 2-0 in their first match of Pool A. However, it was the Reliance side who dominated proceedings on the second day as they scored three first-half goals to bag all the three points, with captain Deepak getting a brace. Manipur’s Thoi scored the consolation goal for the Manipuris who are not second in the group on goal difference.
Afghanistan thrash Sri Lanka
Day two had started off early in the morning at the same venue which saw the Afghanistan team pound their Sri Lankan counterparts with a scoreline of 22-0 in the first game of Pool D. Afghanistan’s Mohammad Asgar, Ahmed Rasheed and Mustafa caused the bulk of the damage as the South Asian side made a huge statement to the rest of the teams at the tournament.
In the other four games which were held at the New Wellington Camp, Maharashtra also joined Manipur and Reliance level on 3 points in Pool A as they beat Lakshadweep with a 2-0 scoreline as Jaden Irani and Y. Sharma scored for them. Whereas in Pool C, it was Jharkhand who beat Kerala 2-0 as Chuttur Kisku and Chandan Mardi struck for the former. Pool D saw Chhattisgarh beat the AFBBS team by a solitary goal as Sadul Malla scored the winner.
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The only game which ended without a goal on the day was the Pool B match between Bangladesh and Goa, which was also played at the New Wellington Camp. The last match of the day was the Pool B encounter between West Bengal and Sikkim, where the Sikkim side went behind to an own goal which was unfortunately scored inside the first 20 minutes but SIkkim dominated possession in the second half as they scored the equaliser in the dying stages of the game at the Ambedkar Stadium.
