The little girls from Dharavi Diary, an NGO outfit, warmed the cockles of all those watching the action in the second edition of Mumbai Mirror’s ‘Mirror Girls Soccer League’ (MGSL) at the Cooperage on February 4. The Dharavi girls, despite their limitations, were a disciplined lot and displayed good ball control and understanding to comfortably win their matches to march into penultimate round in the girls’ under-12 category.

They produced some pleasing performances and blanked Oscar Foundation 2-0 in the round of 16 and later in the quarter-finals overcome Jamnabai Narsee School ‘B’ 1-0 to set up a meeting with Dhirubhai Ambani School in the semi-finals. Dhirubhai Ambani sidelined Arya Vidya Mandir in another quarter-final.

Nawneet Ranjan, coach of the Dharavi Dairy, said the youngsters are playing competitive soccer for the first time and thrilled to make the semis. “It’s a remarkable performance from these girls, who have not had the opportunity to train under top qualified coaches. But with guidance from Saif Ansari, a former footballer, they picked up the basic skills and more importantly they have showcased true grit and determination, which has given them success. They are all very excited and are eagerly looking forward to the semi-final,” said Ranjan.

Meanwhile, Bhumi Hambire was the star performer scoring a fine hat-trick to guide Canossa HS to a convincing 3-0 win against FC Mithagar in the third quarter-final of the under-12 event, while JB Petit HS prevailed over The Cathedral & John Connon School 2-1 to complete the semi-final line-up.

However, there was joy for The Cathedral and John Connon School and Arya Vidya Mandir, Juhu under-14 teams as they advanced to the last four round in convincing fashion. Cathedral tamed Christ Church ‘A’ 3-0 and Arya Vidya Mandir defeated Football Club of Mumbaikars 2-0.

The remaining two semi-finals in this category turned out to be one-sided affairs with Dhirubai Ambani scoring a 6-0 win against St Anne's HS ‘B’ and Apostolic Carmel HS outplaying Bombay Scottish ‘A’ 6-1.

There was some tantalising matches in the Open category, as defending champions Bandra Packers scored a winner at the death to snuff out the challenge from Bombay Gymkhana and take their place in the semi-finals. Bombay Gym took an early lead through Sanaya Anklesaria before Namrata Thakur found the equalizing goal as the teams finished the first half at 1-1. Just as the clash seemed to be heading for the tie-breaker Stacey from out of the blue struck from a snap effort in the dying moments of the match to keep Packers hopes alive.

In another exciting encounter, Bodyline FC ‘B’ squandered a 3-0 lead but managed stay in the competition after getting the better of Companeroes SC 4-3 via the tie-breaker.

UK United and PIFA Colaba also made the semi-final grade with wins against Football Leaders Academy and MSSA respectively. UK United owner Ronnie D Souza expressed happiness with his team’s showing. “To be the best, you have to beat the best,” he said. UK will be playing against Bandra Packers in the semi-finals and D Souza hoped for a cracker of a game.

Present on the ground and soaking in all the action was Mangesh Desai, technical officer of the AIFF and he was pleased to have an opportunity to witness the girls showcase their talent. “Women's football is at the forefront of our FIFA-AIFF State Development Project. It was heartening to see young girls fighting it out on the field with enthusiasm and determination to win. With the small sided games format the matches are always played at a high intensity which help them to hone their skills,” said Desai.

 

RESULTS

Open (quarter-finals): Bandra Packers 2 (Stacey Prince, Namrata Thakur) beat Bombay Gymkhana 1 (Sanaya Anklesaria); UK United 1 (Valencia Mascarenhas) beat Football Leaders Academy 0; Bodyline FC ‘B’ 4 (Prajakta Tambekar 2, Renee Talati, Bhagyshree Dalvi) beat Companeroes SC 3 (Summer Gonsalves 3); PIFA Colaba 2 (Abhilasha Mondal, Srushti Sharma) beat MSSA 'A' 0.

Under-16 (quarter-finals): St Paul’s English 6 (Anna Benjimin 3, Janvi Singh 3) beat St. Blaise 0; Mumbai Warriors 3 (Adiba Khan 2, Shiza Khan) beat FC Mithagar 1 (Shreya Prabhu); Apostolic Carmel 5 (Florian Pereira 3 , Lynn Dharmai 2) beat Jamnabai Narsee School 3 (Khushi Gupta 2, Reya Gandhi); Christ Academy 2 (Nidhi S. 2) beat Ryan International, Kharghar 0.

Under-14 (quarter-finals): The Cathedral & John Connon 3 (Kyra Aggarwal 2, Riya Vanave-OG) beat Christ Church ‘A’ 0; Dhirubhai Ambani HS 6 (Hara Jiah 3, Voria Hridhiha 2, Maheshwari Prushi) beat St Anne's HS ‘B’ 0; Arya Vidya Mandir, Juhu ‘A’ 2 (Sai Sankhe, Ananya Mittal) beat Football Club of Mumbaikars 0; Apostolic Carmel HS 6 (Mehak Lobo 4, Riya D’Souza, Jessica Dharmai) beat Bombay Scottish ‘A’ 1 (Angira Kanwar).

Under-12 (quarter-finals): Dharavi Dairy 1 (Chandee) beat Jamnabai Narsee School ‘B’ 0; Dhirubhai Ambani International School 2 (Aritra Mallik, Saanvi Aggarwal) beat Arya Vidya Mandir, Juhu 0; Canossa HS 3 (Bhumi Hambire 3) beat FC Mithagar 0; JB Petit HS 2 (Sharvi Baigiwala, Vidhi Agarwal) The Cathedral and John Connon School 1 (Mannat Shah).