While the junior footballers of the North-East failed to live up to their reputations, the sub-juniors made the region proud with excellent and exciting brand of football in the 42nd Subroto Cup Football (u-14).

At the end, it was Holy Heart School of Mizoram that won the coveted trophy in a tournament that was totally dominated by the North-Eastern teams. So much was the domination of the teams from the region that three teams from the North-East reached up to the semifinal stage and the final was played between two North-Eastern teams.

For records, in a keenly contested final, the Aizwal School beat Namchi Sports School of Sikkim. The victory margin was 2-1. For Mizoram team Joseph Lalrin Mawia and Vanlal Ruata scored the goals, while Sangdup Lepcha scored the lone goal for Sikkim.

The tournament showcased the talents available in this part of the country. Genetically gifted NE boys showed tremendous maturity and football sense in every match they played. Their performances were simply superb considering the fact that a full-size football ground is a rare commodity in the North-East and the boys hardly got any time to practice together before the tournament.

After the paratroopers enthralled the crowd before the final, the two North-Eastern teams showed the crowd that they also could match the Indian Air Force Dare Devils in do or die attitude. In a fast paced match, full of attacks and counter-attacks, the teams from Mizoram and Sikkim did everything to lift the coveted trophy. So intense was the contest, that with 0-2 down and barely few seconds to go for the final whistle, the Namchi boys continued to raid the rival defence and succeeded to reduce the margin from a well executed move.

While there was nothing much to differentiate between the two finalists, the Mizo boys beat their opponents in strategy. Mizoram coach Thlanga rightly asked his boys to rely more on power than skill in the final, considering the strength and stamina of the Sikkim footballers. The Mizo boys, under the instruction of their coach, never allowed their opponent to play their natural game. With robust tackles, long clearances Mizoram took the game away from Sikkim.

Sikkim coach H. Norden could not de much against the aggressive football played by the Mizos, as he was handicapped with the absence of four of his regular players, who were busy in national duty in Nepal. After the match he lamented that had he been able to field a full-strength squad, the final outcome might have been different.

Though ended up as the losing side, but the team from Sikkim had proved what a North-Eastern team could do with little bit of support from the State Government. While for the other North-Eastern teams State Governments patronage was a luxury, Sikkim Government under the ambitious ‘Search for another Baichung’ scheme is funding the Namchi Sports School.

Nearly five years ago, out of 6000 boys, 30 boys were selected for the Government-sponsored sports school. They were trained and groomed by expert coaches. As a result, the sports school has already gifted four u-14 footballers to country, reached the Subroto final once and semi-final twice in four appearances.