West Bengal hammered Goa 7-1 in a completely one-sided semifinal of the 37th sub-junior National football championship at the Ambedkar Stadium here on Thursday to set up a title clash with Odisha, which beat Madhya Pradesh 3-1 in the other semifinal.
West Bengal struck as early as the third minute of the match — after missing two chances even before that — when Hassan Ali Molla ran through the Goa defence to slot the ball home.
The lead doubled 10 minutes later through Sanjoy Oraw’s header off a corner kick. Molla’s second goal, wrong-footing the Goa custodian, made it 3-0 and the match was all but over. Molla would score two more in the second half to round off his tally. Restricted to its half, Goa tried to keep the margin of defeat low, but the rampaging Bengal attack kept coming in waves. Goa finally got one on the board when Francis D’Melo converted from the spot, but that was the only highlight for Goa in the match.
In the other semifinal, Odisha came back from a goal down to move past Madhya Pradesh 3-1.
The results: Semifinals: West Bengal 7 (Hassan Ali Molla 4, Sanjay Oraw 2, Kartick Golder) bt Goa 1 (Francis D’Melo); Odisha 3 (Bekey Oram 2, Dula) bt Madhya Pradesh 1 (Lamujingba Meitei).
