The eighth day of the 57th edition of the Subroto Cup International Football Tournament saw another four Pools start their campaign at the Dr. Ambedkar Stadium and the New Wellington Camp ground in New Delhi after the first phase of the tournament had ended with Bangladesh and Afghanistan qualifying for the first semi-final of the Under-14 Boys Tournament.
The tournament has been scheduled in a unique way where the first four groups finished their share of matches in the first week of the tournament, and the quarterfinals were also held. It is now time for the second phase of the tournament where a total of 16 teams will be competing to book a place to the remaining two quarterfinals – these teams have been divided into four pools – Pool E, Pool F, Pool G and Pool H.
In the first game held at the Ambedkar Stadium today, it was Pool G’s Sainik School from Imphal, who was up against Uttarakhand’s Maharana Pratap Sports College side in an early morning kick-off. The game was tightly contested as both the sides looked threatening when they went on the attack, and kept their cool when defending. Such an approach by both the teams resulted in just one goal being scored, which went in the way of Uttarakhand who struck in the 46th minute through Wajid Ali.
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The second game at the same venue saw Chandigarh’s Government Model High School (Sector 36) lock horns with Kolkata’s Sai East NSEC (Salt Lake) in a Pool E match which turned out to be a great start for the former as they scored three goals. Chandigarh were helped by two quick goals inside the first six minutes as Taison and Gobind were on target. The third goal was earned through some fluent attacking play as a shot was deflected off Kolkata’s R Kami into his own net.
In the first of the two evening games at the Ambedkar Stadium, it was Malaysia’s NFDP who faced Haryana’s Government High School in as the former decimated the latter by a margin of 5-1 in Pool H. Goals from Muhammad Stazwi, Ajmal, N.Akmal and two from Akiff were enough to seal the win, in what was a great performance from the Malaysian side.
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The second game of the evening saw Mizoram’s Government Middle School take on Meghalaya’s Lawmei Secondary School in Pool F. The school from Kolasib in Mizoram had enough firepower in their ranks to win the game 2-1 as Lalnun Sanga and Resane Puia scored for the victors as Embok Lang had pulled one back for Meghalaya.
Action at New Wellington Camp
Whereas, at the New Wellington Camp ground, the early morning kick-off saw a Pool E match between’s Gujarat’s St Xavier High School and Daman and Diu’s Nirmalamata High School which was dominated by the side from Gujarat as they won by a scoreline of 6-0 where Elvis John scored four goals. The team was also helped by one goal each from Aadiya Chinubhai and Prince Lalasva.
The second game was contested between Pool G’s NCC school from Odisha and Sainik School IPSC from Assam. Assam never looked like troubling their opposition as they lost by 0-6 as the victors were helped by goals from Bekey Oram, Jagadis Oram, SK Kalam, Kusha Jani and a brace from Samir Kerketta. The evening game at the same venue saw Uttar Pradesh’s Saifai Sports College beat Navodaya from Manipur by 3-0 in Pool F as Manish Choudhary struck twice after Adarsh Sharma had opened the scoring.
The results mean that the teams who won on the eighth day have opened their account with all the three points in their respective groups and will be the favourites to qualify for the quarterfinals.
