PANJIM: Compassion FA, Goa inched closer to making it to the third edition title, to make it three in-a-row, in the La Liga Foundacion, Bank of Baroda sponsored 3rd Inspire Cup All-India Inter-Academies Girls Under-17 football tournament organised by the RDT’s Anantpur Sports Academy in Andhra Pradesh.
Compassion FA having lost a closely fought first match against Liberty Ladies FC from Chennai comprising most of the Tamil Nadu State team players 1-2 went on to win both their remaining league matches with utmost ease, first against the Anantpur United FC 10-0 and then against Nandi Foundation from Gujarat 15-1.
Compassion FC in the semifinal played a very formidable Sports Authority of Gujarat Girls Academy team from Himmat Nagar, Gujarat.
Although the Goa team dominated the proceedings throughout the game there were some tense moments, but because of some great saves by keeper Ria Rajesh, earned her the best player of the match.
It was Pearl Fernandes and Fatima Braganza who have been the talk of the tournament as between the two they have shared around 20 goals in the tournament with Pearl having a lion share of it.
In the semifinal, the Sports Authority of Gujarat team bottled both Pearl and Fatima most times with their sturdy defence and in the end, just four minutes from the final whistle, came the winner. It was Fatima who cut past three defenders and paved a great pass through the gap for the skipper Riya Patre to score the match winning goal.
The Goa girls will to go to Anantpur without four of their key players.
