Stephen's Academy, CFA enter semis

Chandigarh, Sep 5 (UNI) Local Chandigarh Football Academy (group A) and St Stephen's Football Academy (group C) today made it to the last four stage on fifth day of the sixth edition of the Hospitality Administrator's Challenge Cup All-India Football Tournament for Under-17.

As Mizoram SSA Football XI and defending champion Services XI played truant the group C was reduced to three teams.

Formidable Stephen's Academy, Sector 45, today expectedly trounced Himachal Pradesh Football Association by a 10-1 margin for their second successive triumph at the Sector 17 Football Stadium. Faman Tram Lamba and Johny Chand wrecked the Himachal defence. Johny Chand converted a spot kick in the third minute to give his team the lead. He scored two more goals in the 40th and 71st minutes.

Ebullient striker Faman Tram Lamba performed a hat-trick by scoring in 25th, 27th, 35th and 47th minutes. Rahul Anand netted one goal in the 45th minute. Himachal Pradesh got their face-saving goal in the 82nd minute through Rajan Kapur.

Earlier, Indian Football Academy of Kolkata, CFA and Mohun Bagan Sail Football Academy of West Bengal recorded fluent wins by big margins.

IFA routed Chattisgarh Football Association by 17-0; Mohun Bagan mauled Bihar Football Academy by 13-0; Chandigarh Football Academy, a venture of Chandigarh Administration, outplayed Rohit Football Academy by 6-1 and Madhya Pradesh blanked Haryana Football Association by 6-0.

Mohun Bagan scored a thumping verdict against Bihar Football Association in the group B encounter. With the withdrawal by Mahindra and Mahindra and Jammu and Kashmir, only three teams were left in their pool. Bagan are now scheduled to play Cantonment Senior Secondary School of Jalandhar on September 9 to finish their league programme. On papers, Bagan should not find any difficulty to beat the Jalandhar team and qualify for semi-final.

Their final group D match on September 7 between Indian Football Association of Kolkata and Mahilpur Football Academy of Punjab will decide the qualifier for semi-final.

With today's runaway 17-0 win against Chattisgarh Football Association, the biggest margin of the tournament so far, placed IFA in a better position if the match ends in a draw and teams split points. Both have two victories to their credit so far. IFA have beaten Delhi Soccer Association by 12-1 and Chattisgarh FA by 17-0.

Their goal average is 29 in favour and one against.

Mahilpur FA's goal average is 20 in favour and have not conceded even a single goal.

Hosts Chandigarh Football Academy have virutually qualified for the semi-final from group A after recording their fourth successive victory in the six-team pool. They will round up their league phase after playing Madhya Pradesh Football Association on September 7. MP have so far played three matches. They drew with Rohit Football Academy 1-1, beat Haryana 6-0 and lost to CFA by 1-6.

Rohit Football Academy kept strong contenders CFA at bay for 25th minute. K C Lalchhuarama put CFA into the lead and five minutes late Samuel made it 2-0. Pankaj Negi, the leading scorer of CFA, then contributed two quick goals in the 32nd and 44th minutes. Gagandeep Singh (58th) and Lal Nintalunga (69th) further increased the winning margin of the local outfit. One minute before the long whistle, Rakesh Samuel scored the lone goal for the losers.

IFA virtually faced no resistance from Chattisgarh Football Association as they demolished their rivals by 17-0. Azhruddin top scored with goals in the 16th, 83rd and 85th minutes. Silaaditya (66th, 81st) and Seladetya Seth (76th, 87th) scored two goals each.

Mohun Bagan fired 13 goals against Bihar Football Association at the Sector 17 Football Stadium. Paresh Sardar (3), Mahendrajit Singh (2), Rakesh Mettai (2), Pritam Singh (2), Saurav Chakravorty (2), Amit (1) and Gaiham Rongmei (1) were the goalgetters for the winners.

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