Mawia helps team win shootout

He dived to both his sides for the entire match,giving his best to save the Army Boys’ half chances but it was his performance in the shootout which could win his team the match,and with it their undefeated tag in this year’s Subroto Cup. For the next 15 minutes,Mawia held his nerves and Chandigarh registered a 4-2 win over Army Boys,continuing their winning spree at Ambedkar stadium on Monday.

Army Boys started with a psychological advantage,coming to strike first in the shootout and played well to convert their opportunity in to a pressure building tactic. Before walking to the goal line,Mawia bent down facing the back of net with folded hands and closed eyes and mumbled his prayers.

The act was reciprocated in the Army Boys camp by Prem Singh who had come to hit the first penalty and kissed the ball lying on the ground with his hand. As the whistle blew,one player’s prayers had to go unanswered and it was Mawia turn this time as the score read one in Army Boys’ favour. Moments after Chandigarh leveled the proceedings,Mawia was again on his knees before the second penalty.

This time the Gods were benevolent on him as the Army striker slammed it way over the bar. He pumped his fist hard in the air to show his ecstasy. “Even if the shot was on goal,I knew I would have saved it as I could sense the striker lacked confidence,” said Mawia who originally hails from Mizoram.

But this wasn’t the end of the penalty shootout saga nor of the excitement in the stadium. The scores were 3-2 in favour of Chandigarh and the fourth shot was crucial for Army to stay in the match. Allwyn Nongkhlaw knew a miss would show his team the doors and walked towards the ball with nervousness looming large on his face. He took a long run up to hit the ball.

Mawia made the right judgment to dive towards his left to deflect the danger. The celebrations got even bigger as he conveyed his happiness acrobatically,signaling towards the heaven and his teammates. Samuel then footed the fourth to perfection and took no time to embrace the protagonist of their victory — Zothan Mawia.

Chandigarh has now booked a berth in the semis,though they still consider their win over Bengal in the pre-quarter final as the turning point. It will be the fourth consecutive time that Chandigarh has managed to play the semis of the Subroto Cup.

“We have been playing well throughout the tournament. Some mistakes early in the play took us to the penalties otherwise we have been defeating teams with a considerable margin,” added coach Harjinder Singh.

If the day belonged to Mawia in the first encounter,NCC was aided by both their strikers Amar Majumdar and Koushik Roy who scored a brace each to enable their team inflict a 4-1 win over inexperienced Jharkhand. With this,NCC also finds a place in the semi-finals. NCC stepped on the gas from the word go and penetrated the Jharkhand defence.

For the initial twenty minutes,NCC showcased matured ball passing and control skills to infiltrate the Jharkhand box. They upped the score in the 22 nd minute when striker Amar Majumdar was fed a ground cross by fellow striker Koushik Roy from the right flank. He deftly dodged the Jharkhand defence to hit the back of the net. Amar upped the ante for NCC as they struck again in the 23 rd minute to double the lead.

Amar found a cross from the center back and unleashed a 30 yard screamer that left the Jharkhand goalie helpless. After Amar,Koushik took the responsibility to spearhead the NCC challenge. The two goals that he scored were perfect examples of field goals. Both strikers struck a chord and their camaraderie powered NCC to yet another huge victory.

Roy put in the third two minutes after the lemon break when he footed one in through a cross by Amar. Jharkhand somehow managed to earn a free kick in the 41st minute and David Jonson angled in a curling 40 yard free kick to decrease the lead. Roy sealed the match for NCC as he again slammed a right footer in the 53 rd minute for a brace.