Air India and HDFC Bank comfortably won their respective semi-final matches of the MDFA Nadkarni Cup football tournament 2019. The defending champions Air India scored twice in the first minutes of the second period to overcome Mumbai Customs 2-0, while later in the day, HDFC Bank recovered from an early setback to prevail over a youthful Mumbai City FC 4-2 in the penultimate round of matches, at the Cooperage ground on Monday.
In the first match, Air India wasted a penalty when Johnson D’Silva shot wide in the first half. But, Air India scored in the first minute on resumption through Sanchis Singh and five minutes later Rosenberg Geroge netted the second to seal the win.
Later, HDFC Bank showed tremendous fighting spirit and scored through a brace of goals from Pragnesh Solanki and one each through Miyaz Patel and Prashant Rane to take complete control. Mumbai City got their goals through Sarvesh Bangar and Wilsh D’Souza.
Results – Semi-finals: Air India 2 (Sanchis Singh 46, Rosenberg George 50) beat Mumbai Customs 0.
HDFC Bank 4 (Pragnesh Solanki 2, Miyaz Patel, Prashant Rane) beat Mumbai City FC 2 (Sarvesh Bangar, Wilsh D’Souza).