U18 Youth League 2018: Kerala Blasters and TATA Football Academy qualify for the semifinals

Modified May 25, 2018 10:53 IST

Kerala Blasters became the first team to qualify for the semi-finals of the U-18 Y-League.

After East Bengal's progression, Kerala Blasters and TATA Football Academy have also qualified for the semifinals by emerging as Group winners. As many as 9 goals were scored today across the four matches in the U-18 Y-League. Sportskeeda takes a look at all the four matches in brief :

MATCH 1 - GROUP C: Kerala Blasters 3-2 DSK Shivajians

The Boys in Yellow registered their second win of the campaign as they edged past DSK Shivajians 3-2 in the final game of the Group Stage.

The game got off to a flying start as Abdullah KS put the ISL Youth Side ahead in the 4th minute. Ashish Jha of the Pune based side restored parity in the 16th minute. After an even first half, Kerala Blasters scored their second in the 48th minute to take the lead. Blasters scored another in the 69th minute through Adarsh AS to put DSK Shivajians under immense pressure. The Pune based side threw almost their whole team up front in the final minutes and found the back of the net in the 94th minute. The goal proved too late and was just a consolation for Shivajians.

With this win, Blasters qualify to the Semi-Finals of the U-18 Y-League

MATCH 2 - GROUP C: Bengaluru FC 1-0 Baichung Bhutia Football Schools

The Blues from Bengaluru clinched a hard-fought 1-0 win over Baichung Bhutia Football Schools in their final group stage game but fell short of qualification due to inferior Goals Scored record compared to Kerala Blasters.

A 6th-minute goal from Biswas Darjee saw the Blues edge BBFS 1-0. The Blues needed to score more goals to leap ahead of Blasters in terms of Goal Difference to qualify, but failed to do so courtesy a disciplined BBFS back four.

MATCH 3 - GROUP A: Tata Football Academy 1-0 Sudeva Football Club/

Tata Football Academy safeguarded their place in the Semi-Finals as they edged past Sudeva Football Club in the final group stage game. Sudeva Football Club also were in the reckoning for qualification but today's loss proved detrimental to their qualification aspirations. A win for either of the sides today would have ensured qualification for the winners, and so did it for Tata Football Academy.

In what was an ill-tempered game with verbals, fights and rough tackles, as it should be in a must-win game, a 44th-minute goal from Gaurab secure all three points for the TATA Football Academy. As many as six players were cautioned while Sudeva's Shravan Bhatt was sent off.

MATCH 4 - GROUP A: Sporting Clube de Goa 0-2 SAI (EZ)

Sporting Clube de Goa failed to win today as well as they fell to a 0-2 loss to Sports Authority of India (Eastern Zone) to end their campaign with no wins in Shillong. The game was insignificant as far as qualification was concerned as both the teams were out of contention from Semi-Final qualification prior to the game.

A late second-half blitzkrieg from the SAI Boys resulted in the Kolkata based side end the campaign on a high. Rohit Tigga (83') and Bisal Tigga (90+4') were the scorers.