Mumbai FC U20 got past ICL A and HDFC on their road to the final whereas Air India U19 defeated Young Boys and Century Rayon. The final lived upto its expectations after going till the penalty shootouts. And Mumbai FC held their nerves to lift the trophy.

The FINAL as it happened:
Mumbai FC U-20 came into the match as underdogs with everyone favoring Air India U-19 to win the final. And they were on the front foot from the very first minute when number 9 Digvijay Yadav flicked a shot towards goal from the left which was saved by the keeper. A foul at the edge of the area in the 8th minute saw Number 10 Prince take a freekick. The shot was deflected and went inside the goal giving Mumbai the lead. From then on Mumbai U20 were on the frontfoot.  Air India U19 pressed in the final minutes of the first half and they were successful in equalising with a few minutes to go. Sumesh Nair was able to score a tap in after the left back number 2 Aashish Lalge was able to cut in from the left. At half time the score remained 1-1.

The second half saw both the teams go on the front foot for the winner. But none of them could capitalise on each others mistake. In the dying minutes of the second half Mumbai FC’s number 10 Prince had a chance to score the winner from  a freekick but it was brilliantly saved by the Air India keeper. At fulltime the teams were deadlocked at 1-1 and the finale would be decided on penalties.

For Mumbai FC: Dhurwesh Nijap, Raj Gurav, Prince Anandraj, Digvijay Yadav and Yogesh Kadam all successfully scored their penalties while Qais Khan’s penalty was saved by the keeper.

For Air India :Aashish Lalge, Vinod Pandey, Gautam Medikonda and Pravin Mali score their penalties whereas Andrew Silva and Charmel Delmeida missed their penalties which proved costly for Air India.

Yogesh Kadam’s penalty proved to be the winner that won Mumbai FC U20 The Nitu Mandke Invitation Cup.

The overall tournament proved to be a success as all the teams played in the true spirit of the game. One of the positive points of this cup was that the youth players involved were in majority. A true sign of the amount of talent in our city and most importantly our country. Looking forward to many more tournaments like these.

Football Counter congratulates Mumbai FC U20 on emerging the winners of the Nitu Mandke Invitation Cup 2016

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Mumbai FC were riding high after their win against Serco whereas St Sebastien looked to improve from a draw in the previous game against Byculla United. A late goal which saw them equalise after almost looking like they would go down.

Both teams looked sharp in the opening few minutes as they managed to press the opponents giving them less time on the ball. And it was Mumbai who were looking more threatning in front of goal where they created a host of opportunities to go in front. And one of them was taken by number 13 Yogesh Kadam who netted the goal in the 8th minute. Well that certainly was deserved after the pressure they put. A lovely ball in the box saw Yogesh fire one over the top few minutes later. And a potential goal scoring cross from the right could only be fired along the six yard area with no one at the end of it.

The way Mumbai FC played they had 6-7 shots on target with St Sebastien keeper making wonderful saves. But one goal keeping error had put them behind. They lead 1-0 at Halftime.

In the second half we saw Mumbai’s keeper come out of the box alot of times trying to clear the ball. St Sebastien failed to capitalise on these throughballs as one of them would surely have put them level. And this came back to haunt them when Yogesh Kadam scored again in the 67th minute to put the game to bed. After the second goal we saw Mumbai going for the third goal but some very good saves from the Sebastien keeper denied them. Number 9 Digvijay Yadav came very close to scoring Mumbai’s third goal only for the keeper to stand strong in his path and clear the ball.

A defeat that could prove heavy for St Sebastien. On the contrary Mumbai FC U20 march forward with yet another win.

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In the first-half of play, inside two minutes, Mumbai F.C U20 created the first of many real goal-scoring opportunities of the first-half, when no.13 Yogesh Kadam decided to compose his shot over the Millat F.C goalkeeper in a one-on-one chance, but the Millat F.C goalkeeper stood tall and made an intelligent save. The whole chance came from a mistake by their no.8 Farhan Butt, who sloppily passed the ball to a Mumbai F.C player near the halfway line while Millat F.C was in an attacking phase of play.

Later, on the 13th minute mark, Mumbai F.C created another glorious opportunity to score via no.11 Elton Quadros, but as he rounded the goalkeeper he was left in two minds: whether to shoot on goal or pass the ball; he delayed to take the decision, which cost Mumbai F.C another chance. Moments later, the Millat F.C goalkeeper was called into action again, but a smart shot to the near post by Mumbai F.C no.11 Elton Quadros was equally matched by a great stop by the Millat F.C goalkeeper.

Clearly, Mumbai F.C were quicker in transitioning the ball from defence to attack, largely by winning more one-on-one chances as Millat F.C players didn’t play close-enough to their markers. This created more space to operate in the Millat F.C half.

Midway through the first-half, Mumbai F.C created another chance down the right-side of Millat F.C. There was a significant lack of pace on the right-side of the Millat F.C defence, and the players were outnumbered in the midfield area from where Mumbai F.C played-through. The Mumbai F.C goalkeeper was not, for once, in the first 30 minutes of game called into action to force a save.

Mumbai F.C was reluctantly poor in the attacking third of the game, particularly with their final-delivery, which kept the game tied at 0-0. The goal seemed unlikely to come for Mumbai F.C, but for a brief period, there was a sudden shift in the momentum, when Millat F.C launched an attack, which resulted in a shot that hit the left-hand post, the closest they’d come to scoring a goal in the game.

The opening goal of game arrived in the 54th minute mark via no.15 Azfar Nootani, who kept his calm to finish-off a one-on-one chance. Throughout the match, Millat F.C played with a high-line, which they really didn’t have to play; ultimately, it caused Millat F.C a goal, which somewhere lifted a Mumbai F.C side, who were beginning to get frustrated.

Yogesh Kadam doubled Mumbai F.C’s lead in the 60^th minute after a miscommunication between Millat F.C’s goalkeeper and center-back – resulted in a goal, which cancelled-out any real hopes of a Millat F.C comeback. In the 73rd minute mark, no.7 Bilal Khan missed an open header, and missed-out on a glorious chance to bring his team back into the game. On the 74th minute mark, Mumbai F.C scored their 3rd goal via Azfar Noorani, who converted a chance – scoring his second goal – after a lovely one-two on the edge of the Millat F.C 18-yard-box with Yogesh Kadam.

Millat F.C never took off, particularly in an attacking sense. Azfar Noorani scored in the 90th minute, again – completing his hat-trick – as he wrapped-up the victory for Mumbai FC U20.

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Following their stalemate, Mumbai FC U20 Head Coach Arshad Hussain expressed his views about the condition of the ground. “The ground has affected the result. It was the biggest problem for us, but we can’t give excuses to it as we can adapt to the ground after playing another 2-3 games.”

This was Mumbai FC U20’s first game in the Super Division of this season. “As always the first match is difficult but we will be alright in the further matches.”

“The Boys played good. They have been training just for over a month now and it will surely take couple of games for them to settle down.” he added.

“Our best player of this match? My team (laughs). I can’t give credits because it is an eleven man match and you can’t give credit to a single player. Everyone was playing well.”

Referees, who are highly criticised by the coaches and players in the MDFA (Mumbai District Football Association) Division matches has been a talking point for some time now.

On being asked if he was satisfied with the Referees decisions, he said: “Yes, I am always satisfied with Referee’s decisions. They got their own jobs to do, and we who are sitting out can criticise them but they had to give immediate decisions on the field.”

Arshad Hussain further added: “If they commit a blunder then it is fine, because human beings does make mistakes.”

“I always tell my boys to not interfere in their (Referee) jobs, you do your job and let them do theirs. This is what I believe in.”

Although this was not a start Mumbai FC U20 wanted but a draw against a strong Income Tax side is worth more than a point.

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Prathamesh Porwal opened the scoring late in the second-half for Income Tax but an stoppage time stunner from Digvijay Yadav rescued a point for Mumbai FC U20.

Mumbai FC U20 started off brightly among both the teams. Right from the Referee’s whistle Mumbai kept on attacking and in process tested Income Tax’s goalkeeper Nitin Ramchandra.

It took Mumbai FC only 3 minutes to register a shot on target when Elton Quadros brilliant volley was brilliantly saved by Nitin Ramchandra.

Mumbai’s Azhar Noorkani, who used his pace to beat Income Tax’s defender put a dangerous low cross into the box which was intercepted by Income Tax’s defender Macklino Mendes. Had not for him, Mumbai would have taken the lead early in the game.

On 18th minute, Income Tax got the best chance of the first-half when midfielder Madan Talikdar played a fantastic long ball to inform Prathamesh Porwal, who smartly beat the offside trap and Mumbai’s goalkeeper, but only to see his shot going over the bar.

With two minutes left for the break, Income Tax got another chance through a free kick. Madan Talikdar stepped up and saw his curling effort sailing just over the post.

The second-half was much happening than the first-half. Both the teams were desperate to go infront and it was Income Tax late in the match who scored the opener.

Prathamesh Porwal, who has been impressive this season slotted home to give Income Tax a huge lead against Mumbai FC U20.

With time running out, more than half of the Mumbai FC U20 players were bombarding ahead to grab the equalizer.

The Referee added seven minutes in the stoppage time and Mumbai deservingly took the advantage of it.

Deep into the stoppage time, a dangerous cross was cleared from the Income Tax’s box which fell into Digvijay Yadav’s path, who launched his powerful shot from 35 yards which went all the way into the goal as he joyously celebrated with the rest of the players.

A late drama which saw Mumbai FC U20 rescuing a point against a improved Income Tax side.

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