Shillong, Sept 11: Meghalaya’s Under-17 Boys’ football team narrowly lost to Manipur in a dramatic 4-3 penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw in regular time in the final of the 63rd Subroto Cup International Football Tournament in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Manipur won the cup after 43 years.

For Manipur, represented by T.G English School, Namdigong had put the winning side ahead in the 32nd minute of the first half, while Meghalaya’s Banpliebok Khongjoh equalized for his team in the 64th minute of the game, just six minutes from the final whistle.

The 70-minute match saw the Meghalayan side dominate almost the entire game starting from the very first minute and certainly looked the more organised and creative side. However, they lacked finishing and the Manipur boys defended resolutely to eke out a result for themselves.

Meghalaya were driven in attack mostly by their creative central midfielder Banpliebok, who was declared player of the tournament, and their right winger Banganson Nonglhlang, who has had three hat-tricks in the tournament.

After Meghalaya had wasted a host of chances, it was Manipur who took the lead against the run of play when Namdigong stabbed home from a goalmouth melee in the 32nd minute, after a long throw from the left flank reached the six-yard box.

Manipur then took the field in the second half with a change of jersey colour from Maroon to Light Blue, as well as solid intentions of protecting their lead.

Meghalaya were still the more enterprising and got a first penalty in the 16th minute of the half, but Alicester Thangkiew hit the right upright after making keeper Ranidas dive the wrong way. This was after Heroba of Manipur was shown the red card for handling the ball before it trickled into the goal of a back head.

Minutes later Masharing missed a sitter to equalise after Banpliebok had delivered one of his telling crosses with yet another penetrating run down the right.

Both coaches rang in changes and with just inside 10 mins to go for the final whistle, it was the substitute Shylla’s shot which struck Nestanboy’s arm and Meghalaya got a second penalty in the game. This time, Banpliebok, arguably their best player on the day, converted calmly.

With no extra time played after the 1-1 stalemate, the game proceeded directly to penalties.

While Alex and Namdigogn converted for the Manipur, Richborn and Pynshailang missed for Meghalaya. But there was drama as Yohenba and skipper Manimatum missed the next two for Manipur even as Banpliebok and Masharing brought Meghalaya back on even terms. Both Goutam and Bipiush converted the fifth kicks for Manipur and Meghalaya respectively, resulting in a sudden death time, where Phonis converted confidently for Manipur as Wanpli missed his target by quite a distance.

The Manipur side also played almost 20 minutes of the second-half with 10-men.

Despite the loss, the Meghalaya Under-17 team represented by Mynken Christian Higher Secondary School from Ri Bhoi had an outstanding tournament.

They recorded dominant victories, including a stunning 23-0 win over Daman and Diu, a 5-0 victory against Bihar, a 3-1 win against CISCE in the quarterfinals, and a commanding 7-0 performance against Arunachal Pradesh in the semifinals.

The Winners received Rs. 5,00,000 while the runner up received Rs. 3,00,000. The losing semi-finalists received Rs. 75,000 each while the losing quarterfinalist teams received Rs. 40,000 each.

INDIVIDUAL AWARDS

Best Player (Rs.40,000) : Banpliebok Khongjoh, (Myngken Christian Higher Secondary School, Meghalaya)
Best Goalkeeper (Rs.25,000) : Master Ranidas (T.J. English School, Bishnupur, Manipur)
Best Coach (Rs.25,000) : Kitborlans Kharlukhi, (Myngken Christian Higher Secondary School, Meghalaya)
Fair Play Award (Rs.50,000) : Guru Gobind Singh Sports College, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
Best School (Rs.40,000) : T.J. English School, Bishnupur, Manipur

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