AIFF Media Team
NEW DELHI: All India Football Federation’s Kalyani Regional Academy went down 2-3 in a keenly contested Practice Match against a combined XI comprising of I-League Players and others who have represented Indian National Team’s age-group Teams at the Barasat Stadium on Saturday (May 3, 2014).
The AIFF Academy boys surged into the lead through Prasenjit Chakraborty when he tapped in off a powerful Jerry Lalrinzuala corner in the 15th minute; while the other goal was scored by Nuruddin Sameer in the 53rd minute following a series of quick interchanging passes.
Head Coach Gautam Ghosh said that he was “pleased” with the performance of his boys. “Keeping in mind our developmental process we play practice matches every week. But never have we played against such a strong opposition,” he told www.the-aiff.com.
“The opposition had Players who have just finished their I-League engagements while others have represented Indian National age-group Teams in the recent past. It was a learning experience for my boys to play against such senior Professionals who give you less time to manouvre and stress on tight marking. I wanted to watch how they react,” he added.
“In fact, we even played extra 10 minutes after the 90 minutes. Our opposition even had rolling substitutions,” he further informed.
“The manner in which the Senior opposition boys encouraged and appreciated the AIFF Academy boys suggests we are on right track. Even the 200 odd spectators who had gathered to watch the match walked up and appreciated the boys. Mind you, they are all 15-year olds.”
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