Football often prides itself on its unpredictability. The underdog stories, the stoppage time goals and the last-minute penalties: it is this that comprises its box office.
The third day of the Premier League Next Gen Cup 2024 was a contrasting display of those aspects with one Indian club – Punjab FC – scripting history while two suffering huge losses in their final games of the tournament.
Punjab, which became the first team from India to beat a Premier League youth side – Everton U-18 – on foreign soil, remained on song, beating Aston Villa 2-0 in its own home to finish third in the tournament.
Manglenthang Kipgen opened the scoring from the spot after Omang Dodum was fouled by TJ Carroll just inside the box, in the 14th minute. It made him the highest Indian goalscorer in the tournament, with a goal in three of their four matches.
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Dodum took centrestage for the second goal when he won the race for the loose ball against Caroll and found the bottom right corner past Sam Proctor in the 36th minute.
The murmur in the Punjab bench rose slowly to run out the game and its head coach Sankarlal Chakraborty screamed ‘stay’ to convey his order. And at full time, cheers and applause beamed from the technical area.
“This is a great feeling. I had said this before, we had played this Aston Villa previously and that match, which we lost 2-3, was ours to win,” Sankarlal said after the match.
“Now, we can see that with more matches (here), the performance of our players is improving. This is a signal that if there are more exposure trips, it will be better for the clubs and the country.”
Contrasting results for East Bengal, Muthoot FA
East Bengal player in action against Crystal Palace. | Photo Credit: Premier League for India
East Bengal and Muthoot Football Academy were schooled by Crystal Palace and Everton, respectively, with each side scoring at least half a dozen goals each.
Everton thrashed Muthoot read 6-1 while Crystal Palace versus East Bengal ended 7-1 in the former’s favour.
George Morgan and Joel Catesby scored a brace each while Aled Thomas and Callum Bates found the net once each as the young Toffies finished fifth in the tournament.
Muthoot had tried to get back into the game immediately after conceding the second goal, when Enas KP received Akshay Subedi’s long ball and dinked it over George Pickford’s head.
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But Leighton Baines’ boys shifted gears to snatch the game away from Muthoot, and that too, by some distance.
Meanwhile, in the other match, East Bengal’s vulnerability continued to be set-pieces Palace struck within four minutes from a corner.
Freddie Cowin delivered the cross which Sean Somade headed in without much trouble while Sunil Bathala’s failed clearance saw the ball end in the back of his own net, 20 minutes into the match.
Matteo Dashi and Caleb Redhead then both scored a brace each to doom East Bengal to another battering in the tournament after its 0-6 loss to Everton in the game before.
Bino George’s boys ended the tournament at the end of the table, with three losses in as many games, 14 goals conceded and just one goal scored, in their final game off Debojit Roy.
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