Indian Navy, Western Railway, Mumbai Strikers and CBI in Independence Day Cup semis

by Siddharth Yadav August 15, 2017

15th August 2017, Mumbai: The MDFA – Mumbai District Football Association season 2017-18 kicked start yesterday when Independence Day Cup went underway at St. Xavier’s Ground, Parel.

Over 16 teams participated, 8 from MDFA Elite Division and the rest 8 from MDFA Super Division. Here is the round-up of Round of 16 and Quarter-Finals.

Round of 16:

Central Bank of India 1-0 Kenkre FC

In a match which featured both the Elite Division teams, Central Bank of India (CBI) produced a disciplined performance to register a 1-0 narrow victory over Kenkre FC. Arbaaz Kapadia’s sublime strike proved enough for CBI.

Mumbai Customs 0-0 Sellebrity FC (Customs win 5-3 via penalties)

We saw an end to end game when Mumbai Customs locked horns against Sellebrity FC in Parel. Both the teams defended quite well to take the match into the penalties where Customs edged Sellebrity FC 5-3.

Century Rayon 3-0 Young Boys

It took Century Rayon absolutely no extra efforts when they faced Young Boys. Winner’s brace was followed up by Warchuipi as Century Rayon defeated Young Boys 3-0.

Mumbai Strikers 0-0 KSA (Mumbai Strikers wins 6-5 via penalties)

The first upset of the Tournament came when a strong KSA side lost out to Mumbai Strikers 6-5 on penalties in a closely contested final.

Indian Navy 4-1 Millat FC

In a one sided affair, defending champions Indian Navy defeated Millat FC 4-1. Bibake Thapa scored twice, whereas, Akash Kamble and Shahir S. scored one each. Meanwhile, Aniket scored the lone goal for Millat FC.

Union Bank of India vs GM (UBI get bye as GM failed to turn up)

Western Railway vs Mumbai Muslims (Western Railway get bye as Mumbai Muslims failed to turn up)

HDFC vs Air India (HDFC get bye as Air India failed to turn up)

Quarter-Finals:

Mumbai Strikers 1-1 HDFC (Mumbai Strikers wins 5-3 via penalties)

In the quarter-final clash, Mumbai Strikers overcame HDFC 5-3 via penalties after the match ended 1-1 after normal time.

Ravish D’Souza and Siddharth Puthran had scored for Mumbai Strikers and HDFC in normal time, respectively.

UBI 0-1 Western Railway

Keristan Chris’ lone goal was enough as Western Railway once again booked their place in the last four of Independence Day Cup at St. Xavier’s Ground, Parel.

Indian Navy 0-0 Century Rayon (Indian Navy wins 5-4 via penalties)

After a thrilling encounter, it was holders Indian Navy who cruised into the last four when they edged past Century Rayon 5-4 on penalties.

Central Bank of India 0-0 Mumbai Customs (CBI wins 5-4 via penalties)

Mumbai Customs’ fine run ended when they lost out to CBI on penalties after the match ended goalless in normal time.

Teams qualified for Semi-Finals: Indian Navy, Central Bank of India, Western Railway and Mumbai Strikers.