(Left) Arunachal Pradesh, in white, and Tripura in action during the ground-one match on Saturday at the DDSC stadium. (Right) Mizoram's jersey no. 6, Lallawmzuala goes for a shot during the second match with Manipur. (Morung photo)
Dimapur | November 7 : Manipur handed out yet another humiliating defeat to Mizoram netting in seven goals to Mizoram’s nil in the second match on Saturday, November 7. With today’s comprehensive win they are surely the favourites of the tournament. They also increased their tally of goals to a mammoth 24 in the three league games they have played so far.
For Mizoram it is the end of the road with only one win in the tournament over a lacklustre Arunachal side, drawing one with Tripura in their first league game and today’s crushing loss. Most people were expecting an intense game today with the local crowd in Mizoram’s favour. A win by Mizoram would have meant making it a little easier for Nagaland to find a place in the final four.
The balance of the match dipping over Manipur’s favour was evident in the first half itself when Manipur banged in two goals. The first came through Herojit Singh in the 18th minute while the second was scored by Ksh. Malemnganba Meetei in the 31st minute.
The game turned a bit ugly in the dying minutes of the first half when play was stopped for more than five minutes. The problem was not with the players but with the rather partisan crowd who were hooting for Mizoram. The crowd started to throw plastic water bottles into the field over a supposedly clear offside against Manipur which was unfortunately not noticed by the on field referee while one of the linesmen was already waving the offside signal. Play had to be stopped until the crowd settled down only through the intervention of the IRB. The referee blew the whistle for half-time only a few minutes later when play finally resumed.
The second half turned out to be a goal fest for Manipur as striker Ksh. Malemnganba Meetei (jersey no. 10) banged in goal after goal. He ended up scoring three taking his tally of goals in the match to four. As if the proverbial icing on the cake, his fourth and the team’s seventh came during injury time. The other two goals in the second half came through K Reagan Singh (jersey no. 10) and L Herojit Singh.
L Herojit Singh was yellow carded in the 31st minute right after the second goal was scored. For Mizoram it was a “yellow day” as five of their players were cautioned by the referee for rough play. Already sensing they are out of the tournament with the match yet to be over, they got physical in quite a number of occasions. It resulted in the unusually high number of yellow cards against them.
Earlier in the first match Tripura pummelled tournament minnows Arunachal Pradesh 11-2 and made it to the semi-finals on goal difference ahead of Mizoram. The star of the match was striker Kiron Chattri. The forward scored a record seven goals in the match. Manoj Ekka, Binod Kishore Jamatia, Rabindra Debbarma and Utpal Choudhury chipped in with a goal each.
For Arunachal it was their best result in the tournament in terms of goals scored. Their two goals were scored by Hari Kalou and Taba Rakesh increasing their tournament tally to 3. The statistics showed that both Mizoram and Tripura have one loss, one draw and one win each in their three league games. However, today’s awe inspiring performance by Tripura put them ahead of Mizoram. The two team's tally of goals are Tripura 14 overall, twice as much as Mizoram’s 7. Sunday will see Nagaland and Assam in a do or die game for both in the second match. Assam has one loss and one win in two games while Nagaland has two wins in as many matches. Their tally of goals stands at four each. A draw means the host will go ahead in the points table.
The first match will have Meghalaya face-off against young Sikkim. Meghalaya only need a draw to go through to the semis with one loss and a win so far, with Sikkim winless and yet to open their scores. It will be very interesting if Sikkim spring a surprise. There is a faint chance of them making it through, albeit they have to win by a huge margin and hope that the result between Assam and Nagaland is either a draw or Nagaland beats Assam.
Meanwhile in the raffle draw two lucky match ticket holders won an LG DVD player each. It was sponsored by LG Home Appliances & Nokia distributor – M/S Eastern Enterprises, Dimapur.
For Mizoram it is the end of the road with only one win in the tournament over a lacklustre Arunachal side, drawing one with Tripura in their first league game and today’s crushing loss. Most people were expecting an intense game today with the local crowd in Mizoram’s favour. A win by Mizoram would have meant making it a little easier for Nagaland to find a place in the final four.
The balance of the match dipping over Manipur’s favour was evident in the first half itself when Manipur banged in two goals. The first came through Herojit Singh in the 18th minute while the second was scored by Ksh. Malemnganba Meetei in the 31st minute.
The game turned a bit ugly in the dying minutes of the first half when play was stopped for more than five minutes. The problem was not with the players but with the rather partisan crowd who were hooting for Mizoram. The crowd started to throw plastic water bottles into the field over a supposedly clear offside against Manipur which was unfortunately not noticed by the on field referee while one of the linesmen was already waving the offside signal. Play had to be stopped until the crowd settled down only through the intervention of the IRB. The referee blew the whistle for half-time only a few minutes later when play finally resumed.
The second half turned out to be a goal fest for Manipur as striker Ksh. Malemnganba Meetei (jersey no. 10) banged in goal after goal. He ended up scoring three taking his tally of goals in the match to four. As if the proverbial icing on the cake, his fourth and the team’s seventh came during injury time. The other two goals in the second half came through K Reagan Singh (jersey no. 10) and L Herojit Singh.
L Herojit Singh was yellow carded in the 31st minute right after the second goal was scored. For Mizoram it was a “yellow day” as five of their players were cautioned by the referee for rough play. Already sensing they are out of the tournament with the match yet to be over, they got physical in quite a number of occasions. It resulted in the unusually high number of yellow cards against them.
Earlier in the first match Tripura pummelled tournament minnows Arunachal Pradesh 11-2 and made it to the semi-finals on goal difference ahead of Mizoram. The star of the match was striker Kiron Chattri. The forward scored a record seven goals in the match. Manoj Ekka, Binod Kishore Jamatia, Rabindra Debbarma and Utpal Choudhury chipped in with a goal each.
For Arunachal it was their best result in the tournament in terms of goals scored. Their two goals were scored by Hari Kalou and Taba Rakesh increasing their tournament tally to 3. The statistics showed that both Mizoram and Tripura have one loss, one draw and one win each in their three league games. However, today’s awe inspiring performance by Tripura put them ahead of Mizoram. The two team's tally of goals are Tripura 14 overall, twice as much as Mizoram’s 7. Sunday will see Nagaland and Assam in a do or die game for both in the second match. Assam has one loss and one win in two games while Nagaland has two wins in as many matches. Their tally of goals stands at four each. A draw means the host will go ahead in the points table.
The first match will have Meghalaya face-off against young Sikkim. Meghalaya only need a draw to go through to the semis with one loss and a win so far, with Sikkim winless and yet to open their scores. It will be very interesting if Sikkim spring a surprise. There is a faint chance of them making it through, albeit they have to win by a huge margin and hope that the result between Assam and Nagaland is either a draw or Nagaland beats Assam.
Meanwhile in the raffle draw two lucky match ticket holders won an LG DVD player each. It was sponsored by LG Home Appliances & Nokia distributor – M/S Eastern Enterprises, Dimapur.