Day 6: Bangladesh Joins Manipur; Jharkhand and Afghanistan in quarter finals

In a battle for supremacy in pool B, the boys from Bangladesh Krida Siksha Protisthan (BKSP) walked out of the Ambedkar Stadium with all guns blazing, having grabbed the lone quarterfinal spot in the 57th Subroto Cup International Football Tournament here today. They posted an all-win record in the league stage, keeping their reputation intact...

BKSP join teams from Manipur, Jharkhand and Afghanistan in the quarterfinals to be played tomorrow. In the first match, Pinjabati from Manipur will take on BKSP while in the second, it will be between Utkramit High Schoolf from Jharkhand and Esteqal Afghanistan and both knockout games will be played at the Ambedkar Stadium. In their last pool engagement, BKSP defeated The Air Force School (TAFS) 8-0 to edge out Ashoke Nagar Boys Senior Secondary School from 24 North Parganas (West Bengal) who beat Holy Spirit Institute from Margao (Goa) 2-0. What weighed in favour of BKSP was the 3-2 triumph over the West Bengal schoolboys yesterday. Morsalin and Usuf Ali scored a brace each for BKSP while A. Rehmat, Abbdul Kader, Mohammad Rakib and Tuhidul Islal struck a goal each to complete what a routine a winning habit for the team. On the other hand, S. Afzal and Arindam Roy scored for the West Bengal squad in their match against Goa. In these one-sided pool B matches, Bangladesh boys outscored in every match, making them a real contender for title. But it remains to be seen how well they fare tomorrow in the quarters where they will take on the boys from Manipur. No doubt, both have the wherewithal and how they face the crunch situation—they were never in trouble against their opponents so far—will push one of them in while the other out. In other inconsequential matches both at Ambedkar Stadium and NWC grounds, St Xavier’s Higher School from Chhattisgarh scored 16 times without getting a reply in pool D against Sri Lanka , MSP Higher Secondary School from Kerala, helped by Shigil’s brace, beat Kendriya Vidyalaya (Gorakhpur) 2-0 in pool C while Utkramit HS from Jharkhand, having already qualified, completed the formality when they downed Emerald Heights International School from Indore 6-0. For Chhattisgar, Neel Bhushan Singh struck seven times, while contributes came from Akash Lakra, Rahul Kumar Gupta, Arsridul Moha, B.S. Rajawade and Salimon Toppa. For Jharkhand, Ratan Hansda hit target four times, including a hat-trick, while Rahul Hembrom and Chhutur Kisku opened their accounts. [KH_RELATED_NEWS title="Related News"][/KH_RELATED_NEWS]With the school from Punjab not reporting for the tournament, AFBBS were given walkover in pool D. Joydeep Gogoi, with another hat-trick, did well for the Betkuchi outfit from Assam against the Government School from Lakshadweep, with Shakti Moran joining the party in yet another inconsequential game.