Second phase of Mufti Mohammad Syed Memorial Gold Cup starts

Srinagar, December 23(KMW): The second phase of first Mufti Mohammad Syed Memorial Gold Cup League Football Tournament-2017 started at Synthetic Turf TRC in Srinagar on Friday (Dec 22), with two matches played on the first day.
The second phase is for winner clubs of 16 district/zones of Kashmir province and will be played on knockout basis. In all 15 matches will be played in the second phase.
In the first match of the day, SK Budgam FC defeated Salman FC Handwara by two goals to nil. As the match began, the players from both the teams amid cheers from huge crowd started to attack each other’s goalpost. The chilly winds blowing across the ground, didn’t stop players from playing attacking football and it delighted the spectators.
In the first 30 minutes of the match, no team could break the defence lines of each other, but in the 31st minute of the play, Fayaz Ahmad managed to score the first goal for the winning team. Trailing by a goal, Salman FC Handwara stepped up attacks on opposite goal, but they failed to capitilise the oppurtunities. The first half ended with scoreline reading 1-0 in favour of SK Budgam FC.
As the second half began, the Handwara team made several attempts to score an equaliser, but failed to do so. In between Mehran Farooq managed to double the lead for the winning team in the 67th minute of the match. In the last minutes of the play, while Handwara team was desperate to score, the Budgam team concentrated more on preserving the lead. As the referee blew the final whistle, the scoreline read 2-0 in favour of SK Budgam FC.
In the second match of the day, Real Wanpora FC Kulgam defeated Shaheen FC SHopian by an identical margin of 2-0. The quality and the speed of the football displayed by the two evenly matched teams enthralled large number of spectators, who had thronged the venue.
Kulgam team started to attack the opposite goalpost right from the word go and they were paid the dividends in 13th minute of the play when Tawseef Ahmad managed to breach the defence lines of Shopian team. Leading by a goal, the Kulgam players continued their attacks on Shopian team goalpost and in 27th minute Zahoor Ahmad doubled the lead for them. For rest of the match, no further goals were scored and the match ended 2-0 in favour of Real Wanpora FC Kulgam.
The winner and runner up teams of this phase shall qualify for third phase of the event with six premier clubs and two Jammu province teams. The matches of the third phase will be played in Jammu.
The event which started in August has proved a hit. more than 500 football teams and clubs with over 12000 players and over 1500 team officials participated in the mega event, the aim of which is to unearth the hidden talent across the State. The event is being held across the 22 districts of the state and is being organized by the Jammu and Kashmir Football Association (JKFA) under the auspices of State Sports Council and on the directions of All India Football Federation (AIFF).