GUWAHATI: Meghalaya will play Mizoram in the final of the 2nd Dr T Ao North East International NEC Gold Cup Under-21 Football Championship 2019 at the SAI Ground here on Thursday.
In the first semifinal on Wednesday, Meghalaya defeated Sikkim 2-0, with Belton Lartang (39th minute) and Ronald K. Nonglait (90+1 minute) scoring the goals.
In the other semifinal, which was a one-sided affair, Mizoram blanked Arunachal Pradesh 5-0. For Mizoram, PC Halhriatpuia scored a brace, while F. Halmenttuanga, Flarius Lalruatkima and Lal Rem Ruata netted one goal each.
The final will be played at 5.30pm.
Clubs from three foreign nations along with teams from all the eight states of the region took part in the tournament.
The champion team will bag Rs 8lakh while the runners-up team can be richer by Rs 4lakh. The losing semi-finalists will also get a chance to bag Rs 1 lakh each.
Besides, there is prize money to be bagged by the Best Player (Rs 25,000), Best Goalkeeper (Rs 10,000), Most Goal Scorer (Rs 10,000), Best Player in Final (Rs 5,000) along with the Best Players of all the 27 matches (Rs 2000 each).
The North Eastern Council along with the sports department of the Assam government and Oil India Limited are the principal sponsors of the event.
