New Delhi: The All India Football Federation FC will take on Indonesia’s Daftar Nama Kontingen in the second Junior Boys (Under-17) semifinals of the 56th Subroto Cup International Football Tournament at the Ambedkar Stadium here on Wednesday, after a rest day tomorrow.
The AIFF boys, making a fine comeback in the fourth quarterfinals, defeated BK Hacken FC 2-1 in extra time to sail through while in the third quarterfinal player earlier, the Indonesian boys scored a 3-1 win over BSL+2 High School, Bokaro Steel City (Jharkhand).
The other semifinal will see Little Angels Paradise School, Wangbal (Manipur) clashing with Betkuchi High School, Guwahati (Assam).
This is the first time ever that the AIFF has put up a team in Subroto Cup fray, keeping in mind its preparation of the Indian squad for the forthcoming Under-17 World Cup which India will host in 2017.
And the boys not only did themselves proud but also made AIFF’s experimentation a success story, thanks to a well-coordinated effort from them on the field against the tall and sturdy Swedish boys.
No doubt the first half belonged to the Swedes who swarming all over and making wise moves with good aerial passes. On the other hand, the AIFF boys were unable to dispossess their rivals who excelled with on-touch passes.
Making most of a corner, Filip Trasnanovski headed in to score in the 19th minute much to the chagrin of AIFF defenders. Amal Das and his co-defenders were unable to stop…and it was celebration time for the BK Hacken.
After the teams returned from the break, the scene changed and AIFF, comprising India probables, played with a precise plan and made several good moves. In fact, they should have the equalizer very early in the second half but a solid BK Hacken defence thwarted them all. However, an unnecessary charge inside the box midway through the second session at Edmund Lalrindika brought misery to the Swedes. The moment Edmond was brought down the referee blew for the spot kick. Edmund made no mistake with his shot as he placed the ball to the right of diving BK Hacken goalkeeper.
There seemed to be some urgency on either to side to find the winner and in the race AIFF boys came close to scoring. Both Edmund and Baoringdao Bodo messed it up on occasions and a couple of them were spoilt by the rival defenders, forcing the extra time play.
The first half of extra time did not see any goal-bearing move but in the second minute of the later session, a minus from Niswm Muchaharry on the right when he was challenged went straight to Bodo who directed the ball in for the winner. Soon after the Swedes’ rough game saw Lenus Nurmi being sent off the field with two yellows followed by the red card.
In the first match, the Jharkhand boys were no match to the Indonesians who made worthwhile moves even while defending their citadel from falling. Daftar boys went ahead in the 19th minute though Rizky Adrilah and just before the interval Egy Maulana Fikri consolidated.
Changing ends, the Jharkhand played a little better and passed well. During one such occasion, TH Yaipharbambitio pulled one back in the 57th minute to regain confidence. However, they could not do much against a tight rival defence. Adding insult to injury, Ecy Maulana scored in the injury time to complete the task.
