AGENCIES, GANGTOK: Goa entered the final of the 5th Agape Cup National Christian Football Championship after they overcame the strong Odisha team who participated for the first time in the tournament via the tie-breaker 4-2, at the Paljore Stadium, in Gangtok, Sikkim. The tournament is being organised by the John Paul II Foundation for Sports in association with the Sports Coalition of India.
They now face a very strong Nagaland team in the final which downed the hosts Sikkim in the second semi-final after beating them 3-0. The match between Goa and Odisha had ended in a goalless draw at the end of the Regulation time. The robust Odisha players gave a good account of themselves as they had overcome defending champions Tamil Nadu who had won the fourth edition of the Agape Cup in Indore last year.
Although it was a close match for both the teams as the Odisha Boys were pumped up due their victory over TN, the Goan Boys did not give them much space with a strong defensive wall of Paulo and Elton along with Filbert playing a responsible role in the midfield. In the tiebreaker Goa scored through
Filbert, Xavier, Augustine and Tejas.
In the preliminary league pool A matches, Goa had the better of Gujarat by a 3-0 with Tejas scoring two goals and Anthony D’costa scoring the third goal.
In the match against Jharkhand, Anthony D’costa scored a solitary goal to see Goa enter the semi-final.
