Chennai: Disha Sports Academy egded out SAI Juniors 5-4 on sudden death in a pulsating final of the Vivekananda U-17 youth football championship at the Nehru Stadium on Sunday. After the teams were locked 1-1 at the end of regulation time and 4-4 at the end of penalty shootout, it was question of who blinked first. V. Surya of Disha found the target to heap pressure on SAI. Disha goalkeeper Manoj Kumar sent his team into delirium by stopping the spot kick of Kiran Raj.
Earlier in open play, Disha could have scored in the third minute but Monish Kumar missed the target narrowly. However, Disha didn’t have to wait longer to go up. Gautam Raj passed the rebound arising out of a corner to Surya for the opening goal.
SAI came back stronger in the second half and enjoyed greater possession. They equalised in the 20th minute when Rohin Richard fired the ball past Disha’s goalie, capitalising on the assist of Abdul Kulhoosh.
There was some excitement in the penalty shootout when Rohin hit over the bar to give Disha the advantage. However, Disha couldn’t press home as J. Anto hit straight to the goalkeeper Sebastin Samson to push the match into sudden death.
Kulhoosh of SAI emerged the highest scorer with five goals. Disha’s Manoj Kumar was adjudged the best goalkeeper.
Result: Disha 6 (1) (Surya 7) bt SAI Juniors 5 (1) (Rohin 20).
