Keishamthong FC, Thangmeiband FC progress into 24th Challenge Cup semis

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Apr 4 : Keishamthong FC and Thangmeiband FC are into the semi-finals of the 24th Challenge Cup Veteran Football Tournament 2026 being underway at the natural turf of SAI-NERC, Takyel.
In the third quarterfinal match of the tournament, Keishamthong FC rode on W Umakanta and Y Sobha to pull off a 6-2 win over VFC, Kakwa this afternoon.
Keishamthong FC had a dominating start to the game and entered into the break with a 2-0 advantage thanks to a goal apiece from star of the day W Umakanta (1’) and M Sanjitkumar (23’).
After the restart, they carried forward their momentum and raced to a 3-0 lead with Umakanta finding his second in the 39th minute before N Aken (44’) ended the VFC’s goal drought in the 44th minute.
Y Sobha then struck his first goal in the 51st minute to retain the 3-goal advantage for Keishamthong FC before W Umakanta completed his treble two minutes later to make it 5-1. S Narkanta managed to score one more goal for the Kakwa side in the 58th minute but Sobha took the honour to hit the final nail to the coffin in the 59th minute and set up the 6-2 win for Keishamthong FC.
In the last quarterfinal match, Thangmeiband FC held off TRVSA, Malom by 2-1 goals to set up a semi-final date with Keishamthong FC on April 6. Saipu Kom put Thangmeiband FC ahead after 9 minutes while T Viking doubled the advantage in the 29th minute before L Lokesh scored the only goal for TRVSA in the 52nd minute.
EMFC, Lamlai will face AFFC, Imphal in the first semi-final match tomorrow.