Players tussle for the ball during a match between Odisha and Himachal Pradesh. Telegraph picture

Cuttack, Dec. 2: The city, which is known for its passion for soccer, is now playing host to the Girls’ Junior National Football Championship.

The home team did justice to their soccer skills and the support from local sports enthusiasts by reaching the semi-finals on Saturday.

Ever since it began last week, football lovers have been following the performance of the Odia girls closely.

The state team was runners up last year and is showing great promise this year too.

Odia girls started off with an emphatic victory when they smashed Himachal Pradesh 15-0 in the inaugural match of the event. The team went on to defeat Uttarakhand 22-0 with Maneka Malik and Pyari Xaxa emerging as the stars by scoring eight and six goals each in this match.

The quarter-final league matches of the tournament, which were played at Barabati Stadium, SAI ground, Satyabrata Stadium and Police Ground, concluded on Sunday.

Odisha beat Nagaland 2-1 and smashed Kerala 7-1 on Saturday to book a seat in the semis despite losing the first quarter-final league game to Manipur by one goal.

“Odisha players have displayed brilliant football over the last week. In the last match against Manipur on Wednesday, they did immensely well by not allowing the opponents to take charge of the game. But they lost it by a single goal. But they were matchless against Nagaland and Kerala. In fact Xaxa’s five goals against Kerala were amazing,” said Kalpataru Samal, a football enthusiast.

Odia girls are in an upbeat mood for their upcoming matches. They will play Tamil Nadu in the semi-final on Tuesday. Local sports enthusiasts hope to see the home team in the finals on December 5.