Inter District Championship / Sub-Junior Boys

Mumbai to face Pune once again in the finale of WIFA-Maharashtra Inter-District Football Championship

by Balbir Singh December 10, 2016

On Sunday, December 10, 2016, Mumbai Under-14 will feature against Pune Under-14 in the final match of WIFA-Maharashtra State Inter-District Sub-junior boys’ Football Championship. Both the teams are in great spirits as they look set to host yet another competitive final. Last year, the final was decided on penalties after 80 minutes of regulatory time ended 1-1.

Pune geared up to the finals with a narrow but well-deserved win against Nagpur; the former defeated Nagpur by 1-0 with striker Aryan Salwe providing the telling touch to put his side over the margin.

Mumbai meanwhile came out marching against Sangli, scoring five goals without reply. A team effort from Mumbai saw four different players score in the semifinal match as Arya Gadharva, Joel Barnes, Nathan Murzello scored a goal a piece and Nihaal Dhundwekar grabbed a brace.

Last year, on their way to the final, Mumbai and Pune both had to dig deep at times to fetch out a winning outcome, and that is what has helped these sides progress irrespective of individual performances, but a team effort in the end.

Mumbai came out on top to beat a Thane side in the quarterfinals by 5-0. Arya Gadharva, Rony Chowdhry, Vansh Kale, Floyd D’souza and Joel Barnes were on the scoresheet. The Mumbai were dominating in both the games coming into the final, and look in a much better shape considering their goalscoring prowess in the recent past.

Definitely, Mumbai will look forward to taking revenge of their last defeat. A tough match is expected on Sunday when these two teams go head to head again. While Mumbai has been comfortable at scoring goals, Pune has been a side which has been able to close down games at their own will, highlighting their dominance on both ends.

If we go back to last year in December when these two teams met, Pune was much more fueled with goal scoring instincts and Mumbai the opposite. But the match turned out to be a completely different affair where both sides dominated in patches, and barely made most of the chances in a nail-biting final.

It is to be seen how these two sides would fair in tomorrow’s match, but the least expected is a revenge plot in Mumbai’s minds and a very competitive match of football from an excited bunch of talented youngsters.

Photo Album-I League U18: Pifa Colaba vs Pune City FC

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