PANJIM: Margao heavyweights Damodar College will take on last year’s semi-finalists PCCE Verna in the quarter-final of inter-collegiate football tournament, The ACF Trophy 2015, on November 6, at SAG ground, Fatorda, at 4.15 p.m.
In all, eight teams will be vying to make it to the semi-finals. Damodar College showed a lot of character to down defending champions Government College Quepem in the first round. With a strong defence and quality strikers, they will buckle up and learn from their previous mistakes, where they missed sitters in a game which they would have won comfortably. Moreover, they play the same opponents that knocked them out of the tournament last year, thus the key to success will be to maintain their strong defence and convert the chances that come in their way.
PCCE Verna on the other hand were considered as the surprise pack of this tournament last year. The engineering college based in Verna outplayed much higher ranked colleges to make it to the top four only to miss out on the final berth via the tie-breaker.
PCCE Verna are a balanced side with quality players both upfront and in defence. Their strength lies in their possession style of play which was witnessed in their first game against BITS Pilani. The main concern though lies in converting the chances that fall through to them at the right time.
Both teams are eager to fight it out as this stands out to be a repeat of last year’s quarter-final. The teams have key players and their performance will be vital for their respective sides.
The tournament is organized by Herald Group in association with Syngenta India Pvt Ltd, powered by Goa Football Development Council with principle sponsors Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.
