Favourites axed, as semi-finalists found
Maris Stella College, St. Joseph’s College, Hameed Al-Husseinie College and St. Patrick’s College Jaffna will battle their hearts out to book a berth in the final of the Sri Lanka Schools Under-20 Invitational Football Tournament, when the two semi-final clashes take place on December 14.
Maris Stella will take on St. Joseph’s in the first semi-final while Hameed Al-Husseinie will confront the dark horses of the competition, St. Patrick’s in the second semi-final, that will be played on the same day afternoon. In the quarter-final clashes played last weekend many upsets were recorded as the final four teams made their way to the top of the tournament. Eventually, the four top sides — Maris Stella, St. Joseph’s, Hameed al Husseinie College and St. Patrick’s won their respective quarter-final matches worked off at the Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo.
In the first quarter-final St. Joseph’s beat their traditional rivals St. Peter’s College 2-1. Chamath Rashmith and Kavinda Rupasinghe scored a goal each for the Josephians while S. Rasonia netted the solitary goal for the Peterites.
In the second quarter-final, St. Patrick’s edged-out top contenders Zahira College, Colombo 5-4 in a penalty shootout after the match ended in a 3-3 draw. This was an unexpected outcome as many had their predictions on a Zahira win as they are considered the top guns in schools football. However the rising football stars from Jaffna, made sure they complete their mission, by toppling the favourites and keeping their hopes alive of winning the ultimate plum.
In the third quarter-final, Maris Stella defeated Mahajana College, Jaffna 2-0 on a rather one-sided affair. P. R. M. Fernando and M. N. T. Silva scored a goal each for the winners while the team from Jaffna failed to capitalise. In the fourth quarter-final, Hameed Al Husseinie beat Zahira College, Gampola 2-0, stalling another march of a giant killer. M.A.T.M. Rishan and M.S.M. Aman did the scoring for the winners.
The tournament kicked off from October 7 with 20 teams battling it out in four groups. Zahira College Gampola created a major upset by topping Group ‘A’ with an unbeaten record, winning three and drawing one, against Kingswood College. They beat top names such as Royal College Colombo, St. Joseph’s College and Mahinda College.
Maris Stella topped Group ‘B’ as they still remain unbeaten after six weeks of play. They have three wins, inclusive of a 8-0 thrashing against Bandaranayake College Gampaha, De Mazenod College and St. Sebastian’s College while holding St. Patrick’s College Jaffna to a 1-1 draw.Zahira College Colombo headed Group ‘C’ with three wins and a draw as the third unbeaten side after a group stage games. Zahira beat Al-Aqsa College, Holy Cross College and St. Benedict’s College, all three favourites, and drew with Mahajana College Jaffna.
St. Peter’s College topped Group ‘D’ with two wins and a loss despite Hameed Al-Husseinie and Zahira College Gintota finishing with similar statistics. However the Peterites topped the list based on the number of goals scored despite losing to Zahira Gintota. Badureliya Central College lost all of their three games played while Kinniya Central College withdrew from the competition in the eleventh hour.
The top two teams from each group were drafted to play crisscross in the quarter-finals which were played last weekend. With the semi-finals scheduled for December 14, to be played most likely at the Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo, the four teams will have ample time to prepare themselves for the vital clashes. The final of the tournament will be played on December 16 at the same venue.