Panaji, February 14
SESA Football Academy qualified for the National Finals of the Dream Sports Championship 2025 after a tough battle against Dempo SC in the Goa regional round finals at the Fields of Dreams on Friday.
The match ended with a 2-2 draw, but eventually, SESA goalkeeper Sakib Lamture emerged as the hero as his side secured a 4-2 win on penalties in the U-17 Football Tournament.
SESA opened the scoring in the 14th minute when Aniket Terane found the net. A second goal followed when Pramod Gawas doubled the lead for SESA in the 63rd minute. With the victory almost in the bag, Dempo SC turned up the heat.
Jonathan Silva reduced the deficit in the 73rd minute, and in the 5th minute of injury time, Jodric Abranches scored the equalising goal, taking the game to penalties.
In the penalty shoot-out, Jodric and Pradip Kullu found the net for Dempo, but their teammate Favio Martins was unable to convert his penalty. While Favio missed his attempt, Juvenio Simoes saw his spot-kick saved by the SESA goalkeeper.
For the winning team, only Anmesh Majik saw his penalty saved, while Aniket, Pramod, Leo Soram, and goalkeeper Sakib converted their spot-kicks.
Dempo SC will qualify for the National Finals by virtue of being the best losing regional finalists following the draw and will join the Regional Round winners SESA Football Academy (Goa), Punjab FC (Delhi), Chennaiyin FC (Bengaluru), Reliance Foundation Young Champs (Mumbai), Mohun Bagan Super Giant (Kolkata), and Football 4 Change (Guwahati), completing the final line-up for the National Finals in Goa in April 2025.
- ANI