Zahira College Colombo cemented its place as one of Sri Lanka’s top footballing schools, when it defended its Under 19 All Island Football Championship crown against some of the country’s top football schools recently. In the finals of the Sri Lanka Schools Football Association-organized tournament, Zahira triumphed against an extremely strong St. Benedict’s College outfit, [...]

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Zahira kings of school football

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Zahira College Colombo cemented its place as one of Sri Lanka’s top footballing schools, when it defended its Under 19 All Island Football Championship crown against some of the country’s top football schools recently.

In the finals of the Sri Lanka Schools Football Association-organized tournament, Zahira triumphed against an extremely strong St. Benedict’s College outfit, which pushed them to their very limits in an enthralling fixture. After both schools remained deadlocked at a goal apiece after regular time, the referee blew for penalties.

Here the Zahirians held their nerve and conquered the match with a 4-2 scoreline in a heart-stopping shootout. Like in the finals, Zahira College proved themselves to be a solid unit on the field throughout the tournament, balancing enterprising attack and sensible defense with creative midfield play. They displayed their incredible ability early on in the tournament, beating St. Mary’s College Kegalle 4-0, Holy Cross College Kalutara 3-1, Zahira College Mawanella 3-0 and D.S Senanayake 3-0 in the preliminary round with only Wesley College holding them to a 1-1 draw. In the final round they upped the ante, toppling Dharmasoka College Kandy 3-1 in the quarterfinals and St. Joseph’s College 2-1 in the semifinals.

The Zahira College Under 19 team.

Their All-Island conquest comes hot on the heels of a similarly emphatic and successful campaign in the Zahira Super 16 Soccer 7s, which saw them march home triumphantly with the trophy. In the finals of that tournament they ousted Maris Stella Negombo by a single goal.

Although the success of the Zahira team does not hinge on the individual ability of a few players but rather finely-constructed team play, the school does boast of a wide berth of talent. One of its current Under 17 players, Zarwan Johar, was selected for a special football programme which shipped the country’s top football players to England to train at Manchester United. Among the many other footballers who accompanied him was former Zahira captain, Ahmed Shazny.

The future of the sport in school also appears extremely bright being that there under 13 team was recently victorious at the age group’s all island competition. D.S

 




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