KATHMANDU, June 8: Friends Club and Tribhuvan Army Club have advanced to the semifinals of the ongoing Lalit Memorial U-18 Football Championship on Thursday.
Friends' registered a 3-2 victory over Armed Police Force (APF) while Army overcame Saraswati Youth Club (SYC) 5-0.
In the first match of the day at ANFA Complex, APF took an early lead with skipper Ajit Waiba scoring the opening goal in the 7th minute. The departmental side kept its dominance to extend its lead to 2-0 in the 33rd minute as Pradip Rana doubled the advantage.
The second half was completely different to the first 45 minutes as Friends completely turned around the match scoring three goals. Friends pulled back a goal in the 50th minute with Aashish KC finishing from close range for the Kupandole-based outfit. Dikashant Thapa found the equalizer in the 79th minute while Nishan Thapa Magar netted the winning goal in the 90th minute.
In the second match of the day, defending champion Army easily edged past SYC with the help of two own goals scored by the players of the losing side.
SYC's Rishab Raj Adhikari scored in his own net in the 14th minute to put Army in the driving seat while Dinesh Yonzon made it 2-0 in the 69th minute. SYC again gifted a goal to Army as Sanjeet Rai put the ball in his own net in the 78th minute. Gaurab Gurung found the net in the 84th minute to make it 4-0 for Army while Manish Khadka put the final nail in the coffin with fifth goal in the dying moments of the game.
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