New Delhi: With the last set of quarterfinalists having been spotted in the Junior Girls, the rest day for them was well utilized to begin the Under-17 Junior Boys pool matches, as many as 12 scheduled for the opening day itself in the 57th Subroto Cup International Football Tournament here today.
Of the 48 teams that have entered in this edition, they have been divided into eight pools of six teams each which, in turns, means a heavy workout for all the competitors. With just one team from each pool making it to the knockout phase, the race for top slot began in more than right earnest!
In an unprecedented pool C game, Mamta Modern School, VikasPuri (Delhi) boys scored 42 goals against Defence Services College from Colombo, the highest ever in recent years.
With Avinash scoring a whopping 15 goals, Nischay and Kartikeya scored five each as Akhil (4), Danish (3), Shubham (3),Himanshu (2) and Bijoy (2) struck even as Parichay, Jayish and Jatin joined the goal-glut to the utter disenchantment of their rivals from the Palk Straits.
St. Xavier Higher Secondary School from Chhattisgarh struck a dozen goals against Navrachana International School from Vadodara (Gujarat) in a game that was dominated by Anand Kumar (5 goals) and Ganshyam (4 goals) in the same pool.
In another match of pool C, Army Boys Coy (Bangalore) defeated Nagaland’s State Sports Academy from Dimapur 6-0. Dip Majumdar scored the first hat-trick of the tournament in this section—all his goals coming in the second session—after MG. TamarsonMeitel provided the lead with a brace in the 20th and 23rd minute. RenzongLepcha added three minutes from close.
In Pool AUttarakhand’sMaharanaPratap College boys earned full points when a nice footwork by AnkulNegi in the 19th minute carried them through against Modern School (Barakhamba Road) Delhi. In another match, Elias Higher Secondary School (Meghalaya) downed Government Model School (Chandigarh) 5-1. For the winners, N. Mahesh Singh, Romen Singh, T. Santosh Singh, SeiMingthang and Remark Kharmalki fined in while Sukhandeep Singh was the lone contributor for Chandigarh.
In the third match of the pool, Maharashtra’s KridaPrabodhini (Pune) defeated Lakshadweep’s Government Senior Secondary School 1-0, thanks to Sahil M. BhaleRao hitting the target in the second half.
In Pool B Haryana boys downed Kerala 1-0 after Utkarsh scored the solitary goal while in the same pool St Joseph’s School from Bhopal beat Coast Guard School (Daman) 4-0. Sharaddan, Rahul, John and Sarthak were the goal-scorers for the winners. In the last match at Dr. Ambedkar Stadium, Assam boys scored a 2-1 win over West Bengal outfit. Sanjib and PulakBarua shared the goals. For West Bengal, SukeshGogoi reduced the margin.
In Pool D, the boys from Tamil Nadu passed the muster with a lone goal from R. Kumar in the 43rd minute as they beat The Air Force School (TAFS) 1-0. TAFS must be given credit for holding on to themselves for a long period both in the two sessions before conceding the goal. TN boys, too, were passive but for Kumar who made most of the situation.
Earlier in the same pool, Goa’s Rosary Higher Secondary School beat Manpur’sSainik School 7-1. For Goa, Aaron Alvares (2), StendleyFernandes (3), Ronaldo Pereira and Darren Peixoto scored. In the third match, Jharkhand boys defeated the schoolboys from Arunachal Pradesh 5-2, thanks to strikes from W. Jhonson (2), W.M. Meitei (2) and M. Pradhan. For Arunachal, T. Tai and Koh Aka pulled back for some consolation.
Tomorrow the quarterfinals in the U-17 Girls sections will be played at the Ambedkar Stadium.