Minerva, Golazo maintain fine form, Ambelim register crucial wins
Vadodara: Defending champions Minerva Academy FC were confirmed to top Group B after Golajo beat former champions Delhi FC 12-24 in an action-packed match of the AIFF Futsal Club Championship 2023-24 at the Swarnim Gujarat Sports University in Vadodara district of Gujarat on Friday, according to an AIFF release. Minerva reaches quarter-finals on top of Group B: Minerva Academy FC made it four wins out of four as they thrashed Bangalore Arrows FC 8-1 to seal the top spot in Group B. It was the latter who took a surprise lead in the fourth minute when Narendra Prasad Vincent Mari set up a perfect spot for Nikhil Ayyappa Nunna, who scored from point-blank range.
That goal opened the floodgates for Minerva as the latter went on a scoring spree in the final few minutes of the first half to take a 4-1 lead. Samson Keishing picked up a miscontrolled ball from goalkeeper Abhishek Ramesh and headed it into the open net. Keishing doubled the lead in the very next minute, finding the bottom corner after a superb one-two with Himanshu Jangra. And 16 seconds before the half-time whistle, Andrew Vengiprey’s powerful strike found the back of the net. The goal spree continued after the restart as Keishing completed his hat-trick, Lalremruta profited from a defensive mistake and Thongkhongmayam Naoba scored twice to give Minerva an 8-1 victory. After a 15-minute stalemate, the Mizo side regained the lead as Peter Lalrinhlua finished off a cutback. However, Ambelim turned the game around with two quick goals in the 19th minute – first Ronaldo Rosebud Pereira headed it in from a narrow angle, then Michael Silva capitalised on a defensive error and scored. Ronaldo added another 10 minutes into the second half, and fired the first shot into the bottom corner. Though Lalrinhlua pulled a goal back with a superb finish in the 35th minute, Fredson Marshall’s goal on the counter-attack in the next minute secured all three points for the Goan side. Ambelim have now played all their four matches and are on top with nine points, while Thyristor have slipped to second spot with six points from three matches. Golazos trounce former champions: Golazos FC
The 2021-22 champions Delhi FC were crushed 12-0 to register two wins in Group D. It took the Himachal Pradesh side just three minutes to score through their dynamic forward Stephen Satarkar. Shabaz Rognagar scored on the turn in the 10th minute, before Clinton Rosario D’Souza scored from close range in the 14th minute. It was then Lalsangkima’s turn to take a solo run and head past Ato B Sumi in the Delhi goal. Satarkar and Shubham Potghan scored two more goals for Golajo to take a 6-0 lead at half time.
The second half belonged to Lalsangkima as he kept up the momentum by scoring three more goals of solo nature in the 22nd, 30th and 32nd minutes. Ishan also joined the party with a clever finish in the 25th minute while Clinton scored his second in the 38th minute. Satarkar, who scored the first goal, also closed the scoring, completing his hat-trick in the 40th minute to end it at 12-0.
Nyenshen end campaign on a high:
After losing their first three games, Nyenshen FC ended their campaign in Group A on a high note with a 5-4 win over Sports Odisha, who suffered their third consecutive loss and were knocked out of the competition. Nagaland took a three-goal lead in the 17th minute with Lamsangin Hangsing shooting the ball into the bottom corner before Odisha pulled one back just before half-time when Alok Kumar Das scored from a rebound.
Chingthaippo scored his double in the 25th minute to make it 4-1 but the Odisha club kept scoring at regular intervals to reduce the gap. Captain Prasanta Srihari scored but Thulunso Yimchunger beat the goalkeeper to make it 5-2 for Nyenshen. It got really close in the end when Alok scored from two counter-attacks and completed his hat-trick to make it 5-4 in the 40th minute but it was too late.
Saturday, June 29 Matches:
12:00 IST: Classic FA vs Millat FC
14:30 IST: Satveer FC vs Electric Veng FC
17:00 IST: Speed Force FC vs Baroda FA
19:30 IST: Casa Barwani SC vs JCT FA. (ANI
