Manipur’s TG English school triumphs over Meghalaya in Subroto Cup Junior boys final

Manipur’s TG English School clinched the Junior Boys title of the 63rd Subroto Cup International Football Tournament, defeating Meghalaya’s Myngken Christian Higher Secondary School 4-3 via sudden death tie-breaker in the final on Wednesday.

Both teams were tied 1-1 in regulation time.

Namdigong put the winning side ahead in the 32nd minute of the first half, only for Banpliebok Khongjoh to equalise from the spot in the 64th minute, just six minutes from the final whistle.

Meghalaya keeper Wanpli Malang dragged their first sudden-death spot-kick wide of goal, giving Manipur the coveted title after 43 years. The winning side also played almost 20 minutes of the second half with 10 men.

Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, chairman of the Subroto Mukerjee Sports Education Society, presented the trophy to the winners along with 2022 Asian Games double silver medallist Harmilan Bains, who was the Guest of Honour for the final.

The Meghalayan side dominated almost the entire game starting from the very first minute and looked the more organised and creative. However, they lacked finishing and the Manipur boys defended resolutely to eke out a result in their favour.

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Meghalaya were driven in attack mostly by their creative central midfielder Banpliebok, who was declared player of the tournament, and their right winger Banganson Nonglhlang, who had three hat-tricks in the tournament.

After Meghalaya had wasted a host of chances, it was Manipur who took the lead against the run of play when Namdigong stabbed home from a goalmouth melee, after a long throw from the left flank reached the six-yard box.

Manipur then took the field in the second half with a change of jersey colour from maroon to light blue.

Meghalaya were still the more enterprising and got a first penalty in the 16th minute of the half, but Alicester Thangkiew hit the right upright after making keeper Ranidas dive the wrong way.

This was after Heroba of Manipur was shown the red card for handling the ball before it trickled into the goal of a back head.

Minutes later Masharing missed a sitter to equalise after Banpliebok had delivered one of his telling crosses with yet another penetrating run down the right.

Both coaches made changes and with just inside 10 minutes to go for the final whistle, it was the substitute Shylla’s shot which struck Nestanboy’s arm and Meghalaya got a second penalty in the game.

This time, Banpliebok, arguably their best player on the day, converted calmly. The game went into penalties as both sides remained tied after 70 minutes.

While Alex and Namdigogn converted for the Manipuris, Richborn and Pynshailang missed for Meghalaya.

But there was drama as Yohenba and skipper Manimatum missed the next two for Manipur even as Banpliebok and Masharing brought Meghalaya back on even terms.

As both Goutam and Bipiush converted the fifth kicks for Manipur and Meghalaya respectively, it was sudden death time, where Phonis converted confidently for Manipur as Wanpli missed his target by quite a distance.

The winners received Rs. 5 lakh while the runner-up received Rs. 3 lakh. The losing semi-finalists received Rs. 75,000 each while the losing quarterfinalists received Rs. 40,000 each.