Meghalaya blazed past Arunachal Pradesh 7-0 in the semifinal of the U-17 boys’ Subroto Cup 2024 in New Delhi today to set up a meeting with Manipur in Wednesday’s final.
Banganson Nongphlang scored his second hat-trick in a row as Meghalaya brushed aside Arunachal, who gave a good account of themselves in the first half of the 70-minute match before wilting in the second.
Banganson scored in the 21st, 35th+1 and 46th minutes. The other scorers were Mebanlamlynti (39′), Alicestar Thangkhiew (44′, 51′) and Mebankhraw (65′).
Banganson’s first saw him beat an Arunachal defender to a high bouncing chipped ball forward. He then steered it up the centre of the pitch and slotted it low past the advancing goalkeeper.
In first half stoppage time, Meghalaya displayed excellent short passes that led to Banganson being fed the ball with the opposition back line napping. This time he fired low through the legs of the keeper.
Arunachal had a chance a few minutes later but the volley hit the woodwork.
In the second half, Mebanlamlynti was blocked by the advancing keeper but managed to grab a second chance by swerving past the custodian and then a defender before firing it in from a very narrow angle.
That goal appeared to break the spirit of Arunachal and it became a walk in the park for Meghalaya. Alicestar bagged a brace on either side of Banganson’s hat-trick goal and Mebankhraw finished it off with the seventh and last goal in the 65th minute.
Earlier, Manipur beat Sri Lanka 1-0 in the other semifinal.
Meghalaya are being represented at the national-level tournament by Mynken Christian Higher Secondary School of Ri-Bhoi, which won the state-level Subroto Cup in July.
