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Guru Tegh Bahadur football: Experience trumps youth as Infants enter final
Infants FC beat SKF, will face the winner of semi-final match between Valley Hunters and Strikers.
Pune: The commendable efforts of an under-16 SKF side finally came to an end in the semi-finals of the 19th edition of the Guru Tegh Bahadur football tournament at the College of Engineering Pune (COEP) ground on Wednesday. The side comprising promising local teenagers lost to Infants FC on penalties. Infants will get a much deserved three-day rest before they play the final of the tournament. Valley Hunters will face Strikers in the other semi-final on Thursday.
Youth vs Experience
While the average age of SKF team was 15, their opponents, Infants FC, boasted an experienced and strong squad with an average age of 28. The young and agile boys valiantly carried SKF to the semis, beating experienced teams. However, the young side was intimidated and ended up conceding a very early goal from a scrappy corner. Infants’ Amol Wadekar whipped the corner in and keeper Shafik Khan completely missed it. The ball landed at the feet of Melwin Anthony who calmly slotted the ball in the bottom left corner, through a crowded penalty area.
After an early setback, SKF used the width of the pitch and launched attacks down the flanks, but the final ball was lacking. Infants also launched majority of their attacks from the flanks, but they did not rush the final ball and looked for players who were available before playing the ball in.
Steffen Kate marooned the SKF defence with an excellent run on the right wing. The winger calmly cut back and whipped in a low ball. Neither Wadekar, nor skipper Elias Naidu was able to apply the finish as the opportunity to double the advantage slipped away.
SKF were presented with a chance to level the score as Mayur Waghire received the ball near the post, but the attacker sliced his shot as it curved away from goal and went behind for a goal-kick. Kate, who was on the right wing, swapped positions with Naidu on the counter, confusing the young SKF defence. Naidu curled in an accurate ball from the right, but Kate’s glancing header saw the ball fly agonisingly wide of goal.
SKF Bounce Back
After seeing all their attacks thwarted by the Infants’ defence, SKF were able to heave a sigh of relief after scoring from an unbelievable strike from Abhishek Pal. Pal, who is SKF’s top-scorer in the tournament, saw Infants’ goalkeeper Richard Stanislaus off his line and unleashed a powerful shot towards the goal from the right flank. The keeper tracked back, but could not keep Pal’s shot out as SKF nabbed a crucial equaliser.
Following the equaliser, SKF did not seem nervy and marched forward, looking for another goal. Skipper Tushar Durga motored forward, but was heavily marked by the Infants’ defence. SKF concentrated their attack from the right flank. Waghire went up and down the right wing, looking for a chance to whip the ball in, but the defenders were able to keep him at bay.
Tempers Flare
Infants FC were playing a very physical game, and considering the age and physique of the SKF side, they were facing a lot of problems on this front. Three SKF players were seen going down writhing in pain in the first half. After the third incident, Infants suggested to the official that the players were not hurt and were just wasting time. Later, Anthony, while fighting for possession, kicked SKF’s Tushar Durga in the shin.
The incident was not noticed by the referee as no foul was given and no card was produced for a lucky Anthony. However, following the challenge, Anthony was involved in a war of words with SKF attacker Pal, with the former using strong language and accusing Pal of diving and wasting time.
Infants Imprudent
In the second half, Infants FC were the stronger side, launching attacks left, right and centre. SKF were happy sitting deep and launching counter-attacks. After failing to enter the Infants’ box in every attempt, SKF started trying their luck from distance. Rather than worming through the defence, the attackers of SKF attempted some screamers, but failed to get the connection right as almost every shot was tame and straight at the goalkeeper.
The encounter was not a friendly affair as the referee missed another gruesome challenge in the match. This time it was Infants’ left back Vicky Pillay who elbowed Waghire, while shielding the ball. The referee did eventually blow his whistle for a foul, but did not produce a card for Pillay, leaving SKF players infuriated with the soft decision. On the break, Infants failed to make their passes stick and their players looked fatigued.
SKF’s Aman Shaikh, who came on as a substitute in the second half, was the fifth SKF player to go down after a careless challenge by Arvind Pillay. Infants were starting to get furious with SKF players going down so easily and hopping right back up after a minute or two.
Penalties - All right
The game was deadlocked at 1-1 with neither side caving or capitalising the opportunity to get a winner. Infants FC’s goalkeeping responsibility during the shoot-out was taken by skipper Naidu. Naidu stepped up to take the first penalty and slotted it into the top-right corner. SKF defender Krishna Durga replicated Naidu’s effort and slotted the ball in the top-right corner to make it 1-1.
Infants failed to convert their second penalty as Vicky Pillay’s effort was saved by SKF’s substitute keeper Deepak Prasad. The happiness for SKF did not last long as Abhishek Pal aimed for the bottom-right corner, but ended up putting his shot extremely wide of goal. Amol Wadekar slotted the ball in the top-right corner to make it 2-1, while SKF keeper, Prasad, made it 2-2 by burying his effort in the right side of the goal.
Yet again, Infant’s slotted the ball in the top-right corner, this time through Sadanand Ramaswamy. SKF struck right back as Neeraj Mane buried his effort into the right side of the goal, again. Infants FC’s Pramod Atre followed his team’s pattern and yet again put the ball in the right side of goal. Just as the shoot-out was becoming predictable, Naidu jumped to his left and denied SKF’s Kuldeep Bhandare effort to win the tie 4-3 for Infants.
“We never play amongst players our age. We always face big boys because we believe that is the only way to grow and get better. We wanted to see how far we have come and that is why we played in this tournament. It is sad that we lost, but to reach the semi-finals of such a strong and competitive tournament has to be an achievement for the team. Hopefully, next time, we will do better,” said Tushar Durga, captain, SKF.
“It was a very tough game for us because they were very quick. Our midfield and defence were left chasing shadows on various occasions. Our coordination was a tad poor today, but I think that was mainly because of the problems that were caused due to their pace. Ahead of the final, we need to keep calm, keep our head in the game, improve the coordination and keep it simple, and then we will perform well,” said Elias Naidu, captain, Infants FC.
Results: Matchday 8
Seniors:
Deccan XI ‘A’ 1 (Vajra Bhagwat 13’) bt Diego Junior FCA 0
Ghorpuri Young Ones 3 (Ruturaj Patil 10’, Mayur Awale 13’, Manprit Singh 69’) bt City Club 1 (Fardeen Shaikh 30’ pen)
Juniors:
Infants FC 1 (Melwin Anthony 3’) (4) bt SKF 1 (Abhishek Pal 24’) (3)
