Kerala score 8 goals to hammer Bihar in U20 National Football Championship

Narainpur: Kerala made a grand start to their U20 National Football Championship campaign, thrashing Bihar 8-1 at the RKM Ashrama ground here on Tuesday.

Led by Captain Salman Faris, the team displayed dominance throughout the game. Forwards Sreehari Unnikrishnan and Muhammed Shadhil scored two goals each, while Calwin Thomas, substitutes Muhammed Shahil, Alfas KE, and Mohammed Adhnan found the back of the net once. 

Kerala opened the scoring in the 16th minute through Sreehari, who doubled his tally just before halftime in the 45th minute. The teams headed to the dugout with Kerala leading 2-0 at the break.

Kerala made two changes heading into the second half with Shahil and Adhnan replacing goalscorer Sreehari and Prasanth. Kerala gave Bihar no chance and dominated throughout in the next 45 minutes. 

Adhnan scored in the 53rd minute, followed by a strike by Calwin in the 59th to make the score 4-0. Shadhil made it 6-0 after scoring twice in the 68th minute and converting a penalty in the 75th minute. 

Bihar returned a goal in the 84th minute through Sadique Rahman, and that became the only moment in the match they could cheer for. 

Substitutes Shahil and Alfas scored in stoppage time to seal an 8-0 victory for Kerala. With it, Kerala climbed to the top of Group A, after Rajasthan and Bihar played out a draw in the opening match on Sunday.