Corriea Memorial 2025 (Semi Finals)

8 teams had begun this journey a few days ago. Each team had tried their best but only four prevailed.Classes 10A,9A,9B and 9D didn’t make it. Despite all their hopes and dreams they had been eliminated.

Only four teams remained,

And so…under the pitiless heat of the blazing mid day sun classes 9C,10B,10C and 10D gathered on the hallowed SAS ground to see what destiny had in store for them. Each of them were prepared to go the full distance to try and make it to the finals of the Correia Memorial Tournament 2025.

Semi Final #1 (9C v/s 10B)

An odd quirk of fate has seen the losing finalist of the tournaments in the years 2022,and 2023 enter the final in the subsequent year and then go on to win it. Class10B were the losing team in last years finals.Would history repeat itself ? Would they too enter the finals this year and then go on to win the trophy ? Class 9C had other ideas. They played a heroic and determined game and thwarted class 10B at every turn. They conceded a goal and then equalised .Yash Mali pulled off a magnificient penalty save. It looked the winner would have to be decided by a penalty shootout..Then suddenly,in what might have been the last kick of the second half ,Ayush Satam scored for 10B off a free kick from somewhere near the half line.There was no time left for any more comebacks. Heartbreak.9C had played superbly – but their part in the tournament was over at last. 10B had yet another date with destiny,

Semi Final #2 (10C v/s 10D)

Class 10C entered the semi finals as table toppers of their group. They were the only team that had won all their league games. No other team had scored 9 points .No other team had acheived a goal difference of +3.

On paper they were the best team of the tournament. But the Correia Memorial Tournament,we all know,is not played on paper. It is played on the hallowed SAS ground under the pitiless heat of the blazing mid day sun (Kindly scroll up if you want to see what that looked like- more or less ).

Class 10D had a patchy entry to the semifinals. One win,one draw and one loss at the league stage had seen them squeak into the semi finals by the narrowest of margins – a goal difference of +1 over ( a much disappointed) class 10A.

10C scored first. Ozil Silveira scored a beautiful goal. But it was much against the run of play because Class 10D had been dominating the game until then.They had more possession and showed far better team play. And they equalised shortly after via a penalty kick taken by Lance Pereira.However 10 D could not convert their technical superiority over 10C into any more goals and the game ended in a dreaded penalty shootout.

The video recording of the penalty shootout can be seen at the end of the photovideo above.

Joshua Mendonca scored one penalty and then went on to make two brilliant penalty saves.His leadership and skills took his team into the finals.

And so Class 10D take on class 10B in the finals. Will history repeat itself or be rewritten.?

Only time will tell.

To be continued ..

( _{Congratulations to photographers Dwayne Lobo and Bhargav Deore for the brilliant photos)}