Nagaland school lifts under-14 boys trophy in Subroto Cup

Even as the Greenwood High School from Nagaland lifted the under-14 boys trophy in the 55th Subroto Cup football tournament, the boys from Model High School, Chandigarh, applauded their efforts in the final at the Ambedkar Stadium here today.
Nagaland beat Chandigarh 5-4 in sudden death after the first five penalty shots failed to resolve the tie as it was the case during regulation time which ended goalless. The winning team got a pay cheque of Rs. 2.5 lakh and the runners up squad from Chandigarh received 1.25 lakh to make their trip to Delhi worthwhile.
For the winners, Kito, Tokavi, Imlong Chaba, Nighatu and Ngangshi Menen coverted while Ghunaka, Mariaiwibo missed. For the runner-up team, Sumit Rathi, K Amarjeet Singh, Jeakson and Dalbir hit the target while, S Sanjeev, Karan, and Harsh Bartwan missed.

The irony of the final, however, was that Harsh Bartwan was adjudged the best player of the tournament and he turned out to be the villain for his team. It was Bartwan's seventh kick, which he missed, gave the Nagaland school a great chance. And the hero, undoubtedly, was Ngangshi Menen who converted his seventh to make sure that they take the Subroto Cup home.
The winning team coach Mughato appreciated his boys after they held their nerves in the crucial penalty shootout.
"We should have won the match in regulation time. But the moment it went to shootout, I asked my boys to keep their cool and to hit the ball along the ground in order to fox the Chandigarh keeper who was very good in blocking the aerial ball. The strategy worked and after tonight's rest we will celebrate tomorrow," said Mughato.