Narayanganj District reached the final of the Sailor National U-15 Football Championship eliminating Sylhet District by 5-4 goals in penalty shootout at the Bangabandhu National Stadium here on Sunday.The semifinal between the two teams was locked in 1-1 goals in the stipulated time.Narayanganj will play the final on Wednesday (Sept 2) against the winners Dhaka and Feni district, who will meet each other in the 2nd semifinal on Monday at the same venue.In the day’s first semifinal, Sylhet took lead in the very 2nd minute of the match as Rasel Ahmed found the net by an angular shot after beating Narayanganj goalie Antor Kumar (1-0).Few minutes later, Narayanganj reorganised themselves and started counter attacking with spirited football.Narayanganj forward Mohammad Ibrahim made his way to score a goal but his weak shot went straight to Sylhet goalie Fahad Ahmed.But in the 17th minute, Ibrahim made no mistake to restore the parity. Watching Sylhet goalie Fahad out of position, Ibrhaim placed the ball at the top of box in an empty net (1-1).Narayanganj midfielder Rony Das curved a free kick from 20 yards out in the 41st minute but Sylhet goalie Fahad fisted the ball at the cost of a corner.Narayanganj continued their dominance after the restart and in the 50th minute Mohammad Ibrahim saw his cracking right footer punched by custodian Fahad again.Sylhet captain Abu Bakar, carrying a through pass from midfielder Raihan Khan, managed to sneak through the Narayanganj defense in the 67th minute but he fired over the crosspiece with Narayanganj goalie Antor at his mercy.In the penalty shootout, Arafat Hossian, Imram Hossian, Rony Das, Sourov Sarker and Mohammad Ibrahim scored for Narayanganj while Ariful Hakim, Abid Ahmed, Abu Bakkar and Raihan Khan netted for Sylhet.
