Manipur, Odisha easy winners in Swami Vivekananda U20 Men's NFC

NEW DELHI, Apr 21
Manipur and Odisha have got a good start to their Swami Vivekananda U-20 Men’s National Football Championship, as they beat Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh, respectively, at the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama Ground, in Narainpur, Chhattisgarh, on Sunday, April 21, 2024.
Big win for Manipur
A sublime second-half performance against Chandigarh saw Manipur take the top spot in Group A, scoring a 6-1 victory. The match was tied 1-1 at half-time.
Ashangbam Bhaskar Singh (16’) put Manipur into an early lead against Chandigarh, who pulled back through a Manveer Singh strike in the first half injury time (45+1’). The second half was all about Manipur, as Nicky Tongson (64’) put them back in the lead before Rohit Singh doubled it from the spot (73’). Khullakpam Zahir Khan found some joy late in the game, scoring a hat-trick in the last 15 minutes, to give his side a massive goal-difference advantage.
Odisha pip Himachal
It was a much closer ordeal between Odisha and Himachal Pradesh in the evening, as the former picked up the three points with a 2-0 win. The match remained goalless till half-time.
Odisha came off the blocks quickly in the second half and produced some intricate combination play to move swiftly past the midfield and the defensive lines of Himachal. Agastin Munda, Suresh Khadia, and Anil Toppo were all involved in the combination play, but Dhaneswar Beshra (47’) finished off the move with a side-footed curler into the far post. Suresh Khadia (76’) turned scorer to double Odisha’s lead with less than a quarter of an hour left on the clock when he pounced on a defensive lapse by Himachal and slotted it home.
With these results, Manipur and Odisha are both on three points each. The former are ahead on goal difference. Himachal and Chandigarh are third and fourth, respectively.
Group H action begins on Monday, April 22, 2024, in Narainpur, as Sikkim take on Andaman & Nicobar 7.30 am IST, while Telangana face Bihar at 4 pm IST. Both matches will be streamed live on the Indian Football Youtube channel and TGS.         AIFF Media Team