by Suman Gupta
Photo caption – Mumbai Trophy: Mumbai District players are in a jubilant mood as they receive the winners’ trophy. Mumbai District defeated Pune District 5-0 in the finals of the WIFA Inter-District Junior Boys Football Championship 2023.
Photo caption – Mumbai celebrations: Mumbai District players break into celebrations after defeating Pune District 5-0 in the finals of the WIFA Inter-District Junior Boys Football Championship 2023.
Mumbai lads tame Pune to emerge champions
Mumbai: Producing a strong second half performance Mumbai District went on to record an authoritative 5-0 win against Pune District in the finals of the WIFA Inter-District Junior Boys’ Football Championship played at Shirpur, Dhule District.
Leading Mumbai’s charge to the big win was striker Niall Goghavala who fired home the opening three goals while Jess Bhobe and Gururaj Mane added one each to complete the winning tally.
The Pune lads showed plenty of promise initially and did well to keep the Mumbai attackers in check during the first 45 minutes and the scoreboards stayed blank at the intervals.
But, a pep talk from the coach Sameer Kapoor at the break saw the Mumbai boys return to the field as a transformed side. They started to play with better coordination and understanding and showed greater urgency in their build to attacks towards the rival goal.
The Mumbai outfit did have to wait too long to open the account as the energetic forward Niall hit the target in the 49th minute and seven minutes later was again in the thick of the action scoring the second goal to double Mumbai’s advantage. Niall completed his hat-trick scoring Mumbai’s third goal in the 67th minute. Later, Jess swelled Mumbai lead with the fourth goal in the 77th minute before Gururaj completed the winning tally hammering home the fifth goal in the final minute of the match.
Result – Final: Mumbai District 5 (Niall Goghavala 3, Jess Bhobe, Gururaj Mane) beat Pune District 0.
