It was a disappointing day at the office for the Indian teams participating in the first two quarterfinals of the 57th Subroto Cup International Football Tournament at the Dr. Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi.
The group stage matches were held the previous six days, where four pools (Pool A, Pool B, Pool C, and Pool H) had played their matches.
The results of the day favoured both the foreign teams - Bangladesh and Afghanistan, who have now advanced to the semi-finals of the competition after defeating Manipur and Jharkhand respectively.
Krida Siksha Protisthan (Bangladesh) vs Pinjabati High School (Manipur)
The day started with the first quarterfinal which was contested between Bangladesh’s Krida Siksha Protisthan (BKSP) and Manipur’s Pinjabati High School. It was always going to be a hard-fought game as both the teams had played exceptionally well in the tournament in the group stages.
The Bangladeshi team started the game on the front-foot as they took the lead in the 15th minute through Habibur Rahman, whose shot came after a great counter attack. The Indian side failed to get an equaliser and game ended 0-1 to Bangladesh. Pinjabati had plenty of chances throughout the game but failed to capitalise on any of them.
Manipur’s coach, Y. Khogen spoke to Sportskeeda after the match and said, “Our team played very well throughout the game but were unlucky to have lost. We should have won the match as there were plenty of chances for us to score. We lost because of a miscommunication between the defenders and the goalkeeper but we will come back strong next year.”
The coach also emphasised on the importance of the tournament. “Subroto Cup has been a great tournament, the organisers have been very supportive,” he said. Khogen also mentioned that his team had a total of five national U-14 players in his team, and is confident that they will improve and come back to win the trophy next year.
On the other hand, Bangladesh’s coach, Hassan al Masud, was delighted with the victory. “Even though Manipur had one day rest before the game, and we did not have any rest, we did well to beat them. The boys played extremely well and did not lose their concentration,” Masud said.
The coach also spoke on his team’s chances of winning the tournament, “We have a great chance of winning the tournament as we will be playing Afghanistan in the semis. Our goal is to win the trophy.”
Estegal High School (Afghanistan) vs Utkramit High School (Jharkhand)
In the second quarterfinal game at the Dr. Ambedkar Stadium, Afghanistan’s Estegal High School were up against a very well balanced Utkramit High School side. The Afghan boys started the game in fine fashion by scoring the all-important first goal in the 2nd minute through Ebadullah.
The team dominated the first half but were put under the pump by Jharkhand, who came close to scoring several times during the game, as they dominated proceedings in the second half.
However, it was Estegal who scored in a quick counter-attack through Ali, just three minutes from the final whistle.
After his team achieved qualification for the semi-finals, Afghanistan’s coach, Sayed Hadi Kazemi, said, “We have the best team in the tournament and we will surely become the champions. I am elated with my team’s performance at the tournament so far.”
While Jharkhand’s coach, Prakash Chandra Mathur, seemed disappointed with the loss as he felt his team could have won. He said, “The loss is certainly very disappointing but we will come back next year with a much-improved team as we want to win the Subroto Cup.”
“Our team comes from a village in Jharkhand, so it was a great experience for us to play at such a big stage where we controlled the game well against a foreign opponent,” Mathur added.
More action to follow
The Under-14 tournament continues tomorrow with the second phase as teams from the remaining four pools will compete at the Dr. Ambedkar Stadium and the New Wellington Ground in the capital city.
The semi-final matches are scheduled to take place on 27th September.
