Swami Vivekananda U20 Men's NFC: Meghalaya hand Kerala first loss, secure QF berth

Narainpur (Chhattisgarh), May 3 (IANS) Meghalaya booked their place in the quarterfinals of the Swami Vivekananda U20 Men's National Football Championship after defeating Kerala 2-1 at the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama Ground here on Saturday.

The side from the north-east secured the top spot in Group A with a game to spare. While they are locked on six points from two matches, Kerala are also on the same number of points but have played one game more.

Banlamkupar Rynjah scored the opening goal to give Meghalaya the lead in the 27th minute. Rynjah ran onto a cutback from the left wing to side-foot the ball past the Kerala goalkeeper.

Deibormame Tongper doubled Meghalaya’s lead in the 68th minute, when he was quick to react to the keeper’s error, to finish from a tight angle in an open post.

Kerala did pull one back through a Mohammed Adhnan penalty in injury time, but the damage was already done by Meghalaya, who took home the three points and a spot in the quarterfinals.

Meghalaya secured the qualification berth courtesy of a comfortable 4-0 victory against Rajasthan in their opening encounter. Meghalaya found their first goal of the game through Riborlang Lyngdoh Lyngkhoi.

The second half was all about Deibormame Tongper, who scored his first courtesy of a classic tap-in, before lacing a powerful shot into the back of the net for his second. A 74th-minute penalty afforded the Meghalaya forward the opportunity to complete his hat-trick.

Kerala, on the other hand, were handed their first loss after their promising start to the campaign. After thrashing Bihar 8-1 in their opening encounter, with both Muhammed Shadi and Sreehari Unnikrishnan grabbing a brace each, Mohammed Adhnan's brace alongside Alfas K E's 92nd-minute dagger earned them a 3-0 win over Rajasthan.

Earlier, Karnataka began their Swami Vivekananda U20 Men's National Football Championship 2025 Group B campaign with a 2-0 victory against Gujarat. Tamil Nadu dominated hosts Chhattisgarh in a 4-0 win in the second match of the day, to climb to the top of the group.

--IANS

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