Manipur, Afghan boys enter semifinals of Subroto Cup

New Delhi: Manipur's Bijang Loubuk Junior High School and Irtiglal High School from Afghanistan entered the semifinals of the 56th Subroto Cup football tournament at the Ambedkar Stadium, here on Saturday.

Bijang Loubuk Junior High School from Churachandpur, thrashed Delhi's Mamta Modern School (Vikas Puri) 6-0, while the second outfit from Imphal, Sainik School, went down 2-4 to Irtiglal High School from Afghanistan in the sub-junior boys (Under-14) section.

Today's winners will meet in the first semifinal on Monday while the second will witness Chawngfianga Middle School from Mizoram crossing swords against West Bengal's Jatragachi Pranabanand High School (Ghuni).

It was very contrasting quarterfinals one witnessed today because the first Manipur team Bijang boys made it a completely one-sided affair against Delhi's Mamta Modern while the second Manipur outfit, Sainik School gave a tough fight to Afghanistan's Irtiglal.

The Imphal side fought valiantly, but could never match the game plan of the Afghan boys. In the end, the Irtiglal boys deservingly earned the semifinal berth.

But the Sainik boys would rue the fact that despite dominating most of the latter part of the second half, they failed to end on the winning side.

In contrast, the boys from Kabul had a calculated attack and managed to score twice in each half, keeping themselves always in the game.

On the other hand, the Imphal boys were too depended on striker Rohit Leman and that put paid to their ambitions. It was Leman who reduced the margin for the Manipur school with both the goals, first in the 40th minute and the second in the 46th.

However, it was Irtiglal boys who opened their account in the fourth minute through Rashid before Shabit consolidated their position with a goal in the 13th minute.

After the chage of ends, Farshad made it 3-0. Only seven minutes later Leman struck his first goal for the Manipur side. But Rashid added one more to his tally three minutes later, making it too difficult for the Imphal boys even though Leman scored soon after.

Unlike the Imphal boys, the school from Churachandpur did not have to sweat it out much against the placid Vikas Puri schoolboys. The entire action was on one half and the Manipur boys went about the task in a well coordinated manner with both long and short passes with no worthwhile response coming from Mamta Modern School.

So much so, Bijang boys struck in the third minute of play through Peter and followed it up with a goal from Jehova in the 19th minute.

After the break, Haokip controlling the midfiled and found gaps in the opponent's goal with four strikes (28th, 34th, 40th, 48th), all neatly placed beyond the reach of Mamta goalie.

As the Under-14 boys event is nearing the business end, the stage is also set for the first set of Under-17 girls quarterfinals tomorrow.