Narainpur (Chhattisgarh), April 13 (IANS) Andhra Pradesh registered a 4-1 win against Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu in Group F of the Swami Vivekananda U-20 Men's National Football Championship (NFC) 2025, at the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama Ground in Narainpur, Chhattisgarh, on Sunday.
The winners led 3-1 at halftime. Marappa Gowda Sethu Madhav (8’), B. Bharat Kumar Reddy (37’), B. Veera Sai Harsha Vardhan (43’), and Badri Surendra Babu (72’) scored one each for Andhra Pradesh. Nikhil Nayak (32’) was the lone scorer for the losing side.
While Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu were eliminated from the competition after suffering back-to-back defeats in the three-team group, Andhra Pradesh, despite the victory, are left with a rather challenging task ahead to qualify for the quarterfinals.
Defending champions Delhi are the other team in the group, who, too, have bagged three points after a whopping 14-0 win over Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu. While all Delhi need now is a draw in their last group league outing to make the last-eight stage, only an outright victory can clear Andhra Pradesh’s path to the next level.
Andhra Pradesh struck early. In the eighth minute, Sethu Madhav found the target through a jungle of legs in the rival box. Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu equalised in the 32nd minute through Nikhil Nayak off a free kick.
Their joy, however, was short-lived as Bharat Kumar Reddy and Harsha Vardhan scored twice before halftime to take charge of the proceedings. Substitute Surendra Babu increased the lead in the second half to virtually put the game to bed, according to information received from the All-India Football Federation (AIFF) on Sunday.
On Monday (April 14), the Swami Vivekananda U-20 Men's National Football Championship 2025 will witness matches in Group E. Telangana will take on Chandigarh in an early morning match (7.30 am), with Pondicherry meeting Uttarakhand at 4.15 pm in the two fixtures scheduled on the day.
--IANS
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