Sub-Junior National Football : Manipur to clash with Maharashtra in semi-final
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, November 02 2017: Hosts Manipur thrashed West Bengal by 5-0 in a quarter-final match and will now take on Maha-rashtra in the first semi-final of the Sub-Junior Girls National Football Champion-ship 2017-18 on Novemver 4 at 11 am .

On the same day, Chan-digarh will play against Odisha at 2pm in the second semi-final of this championship, which is organised by the All Manipur Football Association (AMFA) with the support of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) .

Manipur’s rival Maha-rashtra played in the third quarter-final match against Delhi in which they won the match by 2-1 today .

In the other quarter-final matches, Chandigarh thrashed Bihar 11-0 while Odisha defeated Kerala 4-0 .

In the first quarter-final match of the day at the Artifical Turf Ground of the Khuman Lampak Sports Complex, Manipur started slowly with the score remaining at 0-0 in the first half.

The onslaught began in the second half with Naorem Priyanka breaking through the West Bengal defence in the 50th minute of the match .

At 61st minute Priyanka added another goal to score a brace and the hosts had then sliced through the spine of the visting team.

S Linda Kom (59′, 84′) also scored a brace, as the team adeptly denied the West Bengal any space while she and Priyanka successfully scored the goals .

Before Linda scored her second goal, Thokchom Martina had also unsettled the Bengal goalie and scored her single goal in the 73rd minute .

After the hosts’ match, all the other were one-sided except for the third quarter-final between Maharashtra and Delhi today.

But this highly competitive match was decided in the first half.

Maha- rashtra took the advantage by scoring two early goals in the 1st and 17th minute of the game.

Delhi fought back and scored a goal in the 29th minute but their rival did not give another chance .

The tournament started on October 21 with 21 teams in seven groups fighting for the championship title with an initial league round at the District Sports Complex Kodompokpi.

Now, literally, with the completion of the semi-final line-up, all the way leads to the Khuman Lampak Sports Complex while the hosts remain the favourites.

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