New Delhi: Tripura Sports School proved too hot for the Afghanistan National Team girls to handle as the former scored an emphatic 3-0 victory in the Junior (Under-17) Girls match in the 56th Subroto Cup Football Tournament at the Ambedkar Stadium here today. All the goals came via the boot of striker Prity Jamatia.
One expected the Afghan girls to put up a good resistance, if not a tough time to the Agartala girls. But it turned out to be the other way in the one-sided affair as, unlike their under-14 Boys team, who fought bravely yesterday to reach the final.
The Tripura girls had a plan and one could see the springs on their steps from the moment they entered the ground. Making both long and short accurate passes, they indulged in percentage football. Still, they found it tough initially to pierce a fortified Afghan goal.
However, the goal by Prity in the 23rd minute gave a spark and her teammates made good forays. But what was remarkable was their solid defence which never allowed any challengeable manouevre by the Afghan forwards for the rest of the first half.
On changing sides, the first 20 minutes saw nothing tangible happening from either side though there were a few moves which could have been converted into account. Again, it was Prity Jamatia who got a pass from centre and moved sidestepping a bunch of Afghan defenders to slot in her second goal in the 51st minute.
With just nine minutes left on the clock, this goal must have dampened the spirit of Afghan National Team which another defence lapse in the 60th minute to allow Prity complete the hat-trick.
Earlier, a nineteenth-minute goal by Poojitha was good enough to help the Telangana State Sports School, Secunderabad, earn full points against Assam’s Dakhim Mazbat High School in the first match here.
It was a bit of relief considering the goal-glut this morning at another ground but equally disappointing as the match between the two never rose to any dizzy heights. It seemed the teams were more concentrating on not letting their goals fall than scoring against each other. No doubt, there were some forays but feeble pushes and prods never fetch goals.
Yet, what endeared Telangana Sports School girls was their being wonderful opportunists. For, in a dull and drab affair like the one witnessed this afternoon, the one who makes the first move always wins. And Telangana did, thanks to Poojitha, who managed to wade through a maze of defenders and enter the rival box to execute a precise shot midway through the first half. Emboldened, the Telangana girls made a few more moves but were stoutly kept away by the Assam girls.
Lambs before Wolves
In contrast, the story was that of poor lambs being thrown in front of over-hungry wolves at the New Wellington Camp ground this morning. In the first match, Chanambam Thambou Higher Secondary School from Manipur swallowed up Phoenix Residential Pubic School from Karnataka, neat and clean, with a 27-0 verdict, while in the second, Sports School, Dimapur (Nagaland) went on a 13-0 goal-hunt against Gujarat’s PR Joshi Vidyalay Sariyad (Patan).
If the Belgaum school girls had no clue to what was coming at them as viciously and fast, the end result against the Patan outfit was equally disturbing.
The Imphal West school girls, led by A. Raja Devi, who scored a dozen goals, never allowed the ball go beyond the opponents’ goal. Assistance for the Manipur’s highest goal-getter came in the form of teammate Kashminia, who found the target eight times. Then there were Ranjita Devi, Yumnam Laxmi Devi, Ph. Sanathopti Devi ad E. Debala Devi who contributed to swell their kitty.
As for the Naga girls, they showed some mercy and were content with the 13 goals, Neichutuo scoring five times and Akhala four with contributions from Nengneivah (2), H. Mara and Vizouuo.