Danial Patel's dream run at FIFAe World Cup ends in semis
Riyadh (The Uttam Hindu): In the first-ever FIFAe World Cup ft. eFootball - Mobile, India's Danial Patel's sensational run ended in the semi-finals after going down to Malaysia at the SEF Arena here on Wednesday. The 17-year-old, who had taken the group stage by storm, pumping in 20 goals to finish second, registered a stunning comeback win against Turkiye's YUSA in the quarter-finals. The knockout stage was held in a best-of-three format.Turkiye nicked the first game 2-1 in extra time despite Danial equalising with the last kick of the game in normal time. However, he bounced back in the second game, and after a cagey and goalless 90 in-game minutes, saw off a 1-0 win in extra time to force a deciding third game. The decider proved to be a one-sided affair as Danial went out all guns blazing and raced to a two-goal lead before half-time. Turkiye did not have enough left in the tank to make a comeback and Danial cruised into the last four.
In the semi-finals, India faced Malaysia's Minbappe, who was the only unbeaten player in the tournament thus far, winning seven and drawing two until the quarter-finals.
It was clear from the first game that Malaysia would present the toughest challenge of the World Cup for Danial. Although the Indian took an early lead, Malaysia ultimately ended up winning 3-1. The second game turned out to be as close an affair as possible, requiring penalties to separate the two sides. Danial once again went ahead in the first half, but Malaysia equalised moments later. There were no goals until the end of extra time, which led to the first-ever shootout of the World Cup. Despite Danial seeing two of his first three penalties saved, he scored the next four to win 5-4 and force another decider.
The third and final game ended up being arguably the most thrilling one of the entire tournament. It did not start according to plan at all for Danial, who conceded twice early on. But he delivered another resolute comeback with a couple of quickfire goals in the second half to level it up 2-2 again and leave Malaysia rattled. However, just as the match was moments away from inching into extra time, the Malaysian pulled a rabbit out of the hat, splitting open the Indian defence and scoring the winner in the 87th minute of in-game time.
Malaysia will face Morocco in the final of the FIFAe World Cup ft. eFootball - Mobile on Thursday.
India's (Danial Patel) results in the 2024 FIFAe World Cup ft. eFootball - Mobile:
Group Stage
India 7-0 England
India 4-1 Japan
India 3-2 Indonesia
India 5-0 Spain
India 0-0 Korea Republic
India 1-5 Costa Rica
India 0-1 Brazil
Quarter-finals (Best of three)
India 1-2 Türkiye (aet)
India 1-0 Türkiye (aet)
India 2-0 Türkiye
Semi-finals (Best of three)
India 1-3 Malaysia
India 1-1 Malaysia (5-4 pens)
India 2-3 Malaysia
