U20 Men's football nationals: Delhi, Goa break no sweat in scoring second wins

Narainpur (Chhattisgarh): Delhi and Goa registered their second consecutive win in Group B of the Swami Vivekananda U20 Men’s National Football Championship at the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama ground here on Saturday.

While Delhi played in bits and pieces to outclass Pondicherry 7-0 after leading by two goals at the breather, Goa came alive in the second half to hammer hosts Chhattisgarh 4-0 in the second match of the day. Both teams have six points each, though Goa (15-0) are ahead in goal difference in comparison to Delhi (13-1). The match between Goa and Delhi on Monday will decide the lone quarter-final spot from this group.

Like in the previous match against Chhattisgarh, Delhi started slowly once again and could open their account only in the 26th minute against a vulnerable Pondicherry defence.

Two consecutive goals in three minutes by Rituraj Mohan brought relief to the Delhi camp, but that was all they could do before half-time. Rituraj’s goals were almost identical; angular right footers from the top of the box left Pondicherry goalkeeper Thirusivaraman stranded.

Once the two goals were scored, things remained quiet until the third goal came in the 70th minute, a long chip from the left by Kamginsei Touthang that had the goalkeeper, who was out of his line, thoroughly embarrassed.

The floodgates opened thereafter, and Delhi slammed in four goals between 77th and 90+2 minutes to make it a rout. While Akshay Raj Singh (77’, 85’) scored two, Ramesh Chhetri (83’) and Sankhip Darpol Tuishang (90+2’) were the other marksmen.

In the day’s second match, Goa faced rather unexpected resistance from the hosts in the first half before finding the net four times in the next 45 minutes. Dalwin Coelho began Goa’s goal rush in the 48th minute when he darted in from the left to score with an angular left-footer.

The crafty forward’s second goal was almost an encore of the first, the only difference was that Coelho decided to cut from the right this time and use his right to beat Chhattisgarh goalkeeper Prakash Kumar Ideto. Goa, expectedly, had the goal difference in mind and wanted to score more.

Two more goals came during the add-on time, one from a spot kick converted by Adarsh Raj and then Soham Shrikrishna Nagvekar made the most of a melee that ensured in front of the rival box.