Manipur beat Meghalaya 4-3 on penalties after regulation time finished 1-1 in the final of the U-17 boys’ Subroto Cup 2024 in New Delhi today.
The two best teams of the competition had conceded just one goal each in the previous rounds but the title match, played over 70 minutes, today was dominated by a lot of nerves and missed opportunities.
Meghalaya conceded in the first half following a corner in the 32nd minute and were chasing for a large part of the second before Banpliebok Khongjoh neatly converted a penalty in the 68th minute, which was awarded to Meghalaya for a handball in the box.
Before that Manipur, represented by TG English School of Bishnupur, were reduced to 10 players after a defender deliberately handled the ball to prevent a header from Meghalaya going in. The ball actually crossed the line anyway but the referee disallowed the goal, gave the offending Manipur player a red card and awarded a penalty to Meghalaya. This, however, was sent into the woodwork by Alicestar Thangkhiew.
Despite the advantage in numbers, Meghalaya could not find the net in open play, needing another spot kick to equalise, with Banpliebok making no mistake.
Meghalaya were pumped up after that but were unable to find the winner.
There was no extra time and, instead, the game went straight to penalties. The shootout started badly for Meghalaya as they missed their first two kicks from the spot while Manipur scored theirs but fortunes were reversed and after five kicks each the teams were locked at 3-3. Manipur then converted their first sudden death attempt while Meghalaya missed theirs, thereby giving Manipur the title.
At the prize distribution ceremony, Meghalaya coach Kitborlang Kharlukhi was named Best Coach and Banpliebok was named Best Player.
It had been an absolutely phenomenal run for Meghalaya, which had been represented by Mynken Christian Higher Secondary School of Ri-Bhoi, which won the state-level Subroto Cup in July.
They topped Group F at the national stage by winning all three of their matches against Bihar, Chandigarh and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu. They then won their quarterfinal match against CISCE and the semifinal against Arunachal Pradesh.
Nongjri Presbyterian Secondary School, also of Ri-Bhoi, had won the U-15 title at the end of August in Bangalore, and this would have been the first time that two Meghalaya schools won Subroto Cup titles in the same year but the dream was not to be.
