RFYS held Football City Finals in India’s Pink city, Jaipur, on 20th November 2018. Being a debut city in RFYS 2018-19, the city didn’t disappoint as some quality football was on display across the four categories. Neerja Modi School came out with a 100% result in the end, winning all their matches in the three various categories that they contested.

The proceedings kicked-off at sharp 9 AM as Neerja Modi School took on Maharaja Sawai Bhawani Singh School in the Senior Boys category. After a roller-coaster 40 minutes, striker Neeraj Desai struck the first blow for Neerja Modi School when he beat the keeper from inside the box. The two teams came out with much more vigour in the second half with Maharaja Sawai still within touching distance of Neerja. They finally equalized in the 68th minute through their Captain Ojas Sharma’s brilliant strike, who doubled their lead in the 77th minute. After a couple of nervous minutes, Neerja Modi pulled one back and managed to hold on to the score till the match went to a penalty shootout. A perfect record in the penalty shootout for Neerja ensured their win in the final as Maharaja Sawai missed a crucial penalty to give away the game. Neerja’s day was just getting started as their School Girls team did the double on Maharaja Sawai Bhawani Singh School in what was a repeat of the first final. Unlike the Senior Boys, Maharaja’s School Girls team had no answer for a relentless Neerja side who scored five and six goals on either side of the halves to completely outplay their opponents and thus completed the double, this time lifting the trophy in the School Girls category.

Tagore International School had a tough job of containing the Junior Boys team of Neerja Modi School, who had taken inspiration from the previous two games. The latter started off well and their efforts were duly rewarded when Adil Ahmed struck in the 10th minute to give them the all-important lead. Before they could come up with an answer, Tagore found themselves trailing 4-0 by the 45th minute when Karan Mittal scored for them. That was the only positive takeaway for Tagore as they were completed outplayed by Neerja who cruised to a comfortable 5-1 win in Jaipur, doing something that no team had ever done before in RFYS – win the Finals on the same day in three different categories.

The last Final of the day was between Saint Wilfred PG College and St. Xaviers College. Saint Wilfred College started off well and their work paid dividends when they got ahead through Bhupendar Singh Meena’s strike. The teams went into the break 1-0 and it was St. Xaviers who had to chase the game in the second half. Saint Wilfred gave little to no space to deny their opponents any chance of scoring as they again struck in the 67th and 78th minute respectively. Bhupendar Singh Meena completed a brace from the midfield and helped his team clinch the College Boys trophy after a 3-0 victory in the College Boys final.

Neerja Modi School’s three teams along with Saint Wilfred College will next be in action during the National Qualifiers. That will turn out to be their real test as they’ll face the top teams across the West Zone after being crowned the first ever City Champions of Jaipur. The focus will now be on Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, where the City Finals will be held tomorrow. Tune in to our Facebook page to watch the livestream of the matches, starting 8:30 AM onwards.