Day 3 of the Department Football Tournament was marked by some brilliant performance and also mired by some controversies regarding the refereeing. The winners of the semi-finals are the Fourth years and Fifth years who will clash for the title in the final.
The third day of the tournament started with much a awaited Penalty Shootout between the Second years and the Research Scholars. The second years showed their true mettle by scoring 4 goals against 1, and made their way to the Semi Finals.
Then the first full time match of the day; the Third years Vs the Forth years started. The third years made a brilliant attempt through Aditya and Monish in the first minute itself to prove their attacking nature but Fourth years managed to withstand those initial moments without conceding any goasl. Both the teams went on to create beautiful moments through attacks and counter attacks.
Nityanshu-Aditya-Jonathan trio tested the Fourth years defence by advancing through the wings. Joseph stood as a wall against the Fourth years counter lead by Rimil and Praveen(PhD scholar), whereas Prashant blocked the movement of Adi-Nityanshu-Monish trio in their half.
The first half ended with the score 0-0.
The second half too witnessed the attacks of both the teams at their opponents; with solo attempts, counters and brilliant saves. The goal keepers(Biyas and Sannihit) of both the sides deserve a special mention for keeping the ball away from the post. Both the teams failed to score in the full time and the match went to penalty shootout, where the goalkeepers of both the teams again exhibited their real talent.
The penalty shootout saw some nail biting moments as both the teams missed the target repeatedly and finally it went into the uncertain phase of Sudden Death which ultimately ensured the ‘death’ of the Third years and the Fourth years fixed their berths for the Finals.
But the Third years expressed their displeasure with the referee when he denied them a controversial goal as a benefit of doubt in the penalty shootout. They were also disappointed with the fact that the penalty shootout was conducted by a referee who was not from the Humanities department while it is, in fact, an intra-department tournament. Thus the exciting first semi-final came to a controversial end.
The second match, between the Second years and the Fifth years, was less eventful. The Fifth years started the match with continuous attack on the Second years’ post. As the match went on, the Fifth years maintained a clear dominance over their opponents. Avinash-Mahesh-Ravi trio successfully broke the defence of the Second years and made several attempts to score. The first goal came when Avinash darted down the left and swung the ball across into the goalmouth. The Second years, without any delay, scored an equalizer through Hari.
The match went on by equal attacks by both the teams on their opponents. Ankita from Fifth year and Remya from Second year proved their calibre by blocking the attacks from their opponents. Karnalius made his presence felt by defending and feeding the ball to the Aswin-Hari duo. The first half ended with a single goal on each teams’ scorecard.
The second half started with an attack by the Second years but the Fifth years slowly made a breakthrough by scoring a goal through Mahesh. Mahesh-Avinash duo attempted to score several times and it was clear that the Second years defence failed in the second half. The fifth years continued to test Melvin in front of the goalmouth. The counter attack from Karnilius, Aswin and Hari failed to break the defense guarded by Sarath Jo and Das. When the final whistle was blown, the Fifth years plunged into the Finals with the lead of a single goal. But here as well the Second years were unhappy with the referee and demanded for more transparency.
Final Score: Second years 1 – Fifth years 2
– Ajsal
Article 19 