Port Blair, Dec 30: It must be very satisfying and pleasing moments for the teams of Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat when the Referee blew the last whistle of their respective league matches today. In the first crucial match Rajasthan beat Andhra Pradesh by 2-0. Suraj Chowdhary scored both the goals and secured the berth for his team in the quarter final. In another important match played at Netaji Stadium this afternoon, Gujarat too won the match against Chandigarh by 2-0. Bhan bilal and Tushar baroi scored one goal each.
The stands were packed today at the FIFA Ground in the afternoon to witness the deciding fight between Punjab and Haryana. Both the teams had been playing good football in this Prestigious Championship so far, and they pulled good crowd to their matches. Punjab succeeded in scoring the first goal of the match in the first half, and put Psychological pressure on the opponent. Haryana came back strongly in the second half and scored the equalizer. The fight to take control of the ball got intensed and then Punjab capitalized the opportunity of a Penalty shootout, scoring the second goal. Later Haryana too converted the awarded penalty into goal and leveled the score 2-2. But Punjab was lucky enough to hit the crucial third goal in the last few minutes of the match, and entered into the quarter final. Striker Lakhvinder of Punjab scored two goals and Rishi Chettri scored one, while Jaipal and Ramdoot were the scorers for Haryana.
The fourth team to qualify for the quarter finals was decided in today’s last match played at Netaji Stadium. The heat of the match was clearly visible on the field. The attacks of one team were equally neutralized by the other team. The Odisha team had Psychological advantage of having better goal average. They knew that if they managed a draw, even then they would enter the Quarter final. The Kendriya Vidyalaya boys tried hard to penetrate the wall of defence of Odisha but failed.
The fate of the Andaman Nicobar team in this tournament will be decided tomorrow when they will get down on the field against the defending champion Goa. It will be a do or die situation for both teams. The match will be played at the FIFA Ground in JNRM campus at 2.30 PM.
