Sunsari, March 20
Two-time Martyrs Memorial A Division League champions Machhindra Football Club outplayed Kanchanjangha Football Club 5-2 and advanced to the semi-finals of the 13th Itahari Gold Cup Football Tournament here at the Itahari Stadium today.
Skipper Afeez Olawale scored four goals alone and Bijay Bhujel added one for Machhindra, while Anish Rai netted a brace for the Indian team, including the opening goal of the match.
Olawale was named the playerof-the-match and he earned Rs 10,000. Machhindra will face defending champions Sagarmatha FC on Wednesday for a place in the final.
Machhindra received a wakeup call after Rai put Kanchanjangha ahead in the 15th minute and they bounced back strongly despite missing the services of key members due to their national team duties for the Prime Minister Three Nations Cup starting at the Dasharath Stadium on Wednesday.
Olawale levelled the scores in the 39th minute as the teams went into the break at 1-1.
Machhindra scored four goals in the second half including three in the space of five minutes, while Kanchanjangha managed one. Olawale netted his second goal of the match in the 61st minute and completed his hat-trick five minutes later.
He then netted his fourth goal of the match in the 64th minute.
Anish Rai scored his second goal of the match but that was not enough for the Indian team to avert the huge defeat.
Machhindra coach Santosh Neupane lauded his team's performance despite having a large number of second-choice players.
"We conceded an early goal but boys came back strongly to record a thumping victory," he said. "A couple of players have been called in the national team, while we had to rest some of the footballers including Bimal Gharti Magar due to injury," Neupane said. Kamchanjangha coach Dinkar Chhetry blamed his players for conceding unnecessary goals. "We conceded so many goals because of our own mistakes. We lost the game after the players gave away three goals in counter attack," Chhetry said.
On Tuesday, Tribhuvan Army Football Club will take on Rolling Club of Jhapa in the final quarter-final match of the tournament.
A total of eight teams are taking part in the tournament.
Top two teams will receive one million rupees and Rs 500,000 respectively.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 21, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
