Navy, KSA, WR, Customs through to the quarters of Independence Cup 2015

by Siddharth Yadav August 15, 2015

The new edition of Independence Cup kicked off yesterday at Xaviers ground, Parel where various clubs from MDFA (Mumbai District Football Association) Elite division, Super Division and First Division.

All the 16 teams fight for glory to take away bragging rights, this tournament is especially played on 14th and 15th August with the help of MDFA, MSSA and HDFC – who are sponsors of Independence Cup.

The first match of this new edition was played between HDFC and Central Bank of India, a six goal thriller where the match ended 4-2 in favor of HDFC Bank.

Ketan Kalgukar, Prakyat Shetty, Sheldon Benny and Nigel D’Souza scored for HDFC while Abhneet Jaiswal and Gary Tuscano scored for Central Bank of India.

With this result, HDFC bank has booked their place in Quarter Finals of Independence Cup 2015.

In the second match of the tournament ICL played Kenkre FC where two quick goals in first half itself from Smit Kohli and Shane Menezes of ICL put them in commanding position but Alaister Anthony’s goal for Kenkre calmed down the pressure.

After failing to capitalize various opportunities, ICL finally managed to seal the match in second half Shane Menezes scored his second and ICL’s third goal to send them to Quarters.

Mumbai Customs narrowly won 1-0 against Sunday Boys where Praneel Mendon calmly placed his shot which nestled past Sunday Boy’s goalkeeper, the boys in yellow thus secured their place in Quarters.

In the noon match, KSA met Union Bank of India where goals from Tushar and Stevens Ugwu proved to be decisive goals of the match where Shravan Shetty’s goal for Union Bank of India proved to be too late.

Stevens Ugwu goal was set up by Patrick M. whose deadly left footed free kick found Stevens who finished it superbly to make the score 2-0.

Ex KSA attacker Valentine Pereira and Shravan Shetty fantastic link-up play in second half managed to get them one goal which was not enough to overcome KSA.

The match between Centraly Railways and GM Sports had to be separated in penalty shootout which was first of the tournament.

Two incredible strikes from GM Sports striker Steve put them 2-0 ahead which seemed like a tough job for Central Railways to overcome. One of Steve’s goals was pure gold when he volleyed from 25 yards which managed to beat Central Railway’s goalkeeper.

His second came from a free kick where his deflected shot dummied the goalkeeper and managed to find the net. It was all down to second half, Central Railways made a incredible comeback where goals from Manoj Kumar and Shafique made the score 2-2 which send the match into penalties.

GM Sports missed three of their spot kicks which gave Central Railway a huge win and secured their place in quarters. Harshad, Central Railway’s goalkeeper proved to be outstanding in the shootout.

The last match of the day was played between Western Railway and Income Tax where Linekar’s only goal was enough to send them in quarters.

So after the first round we are left with eight teams in the quarters, the Quarters will take place today at Xaviers ground, Parel.

Here are the quarter final fixtures of Independence Cup 2015: Indian Navy vs HDFC Bank, Central Railways vs Mumbai Customs, KSA vs Milat FC and ICL vs Western Railway.