A dominant display in the second half saw Hameed Al Husseinie defeat Zahira College 4-2 in the opening match of the Kotmale Chox U19 Schools Football tournament.
The match was billed as a ‘not to be missed’ as two heavyweights of schools football clashed at the Sugathadasa Stadium. Thousands of vociferous spectators thronged the Stadium in expectation of a thrilling encounter where both sides included Sri Lanka U19 players. They witnessed just that as goals from Keetige Sandaruwan, Mohammed Aman, Afeel Mohammed and Mohammed Rahuman propelled the lads from Kotahena to victory over their arch rivals.
It was Zahira however started the match brightly as they opened the scoring in the 3rd minute through Ahamed Shakir. Al Husseinie players were looking for a foul on their player in the midfield but the referee waved on as Shakir went past a couple of static defenders to calmly slot the past a diving Mahendran Dinesh.
It was the perfect start Zahira needed and they dominated play in the opening 15 minutes. Zahira looked much at ease as Al Husseinie players were made to chase shadows. In that time period Zahira had a couple of corners and opportunities to extend their lead but poor finishing prevented that from happening. It took almost a quarter of the game for the Al Husseinie lads to get into their usual passing style of play and had their first opportunity when they were awarded a free kick 20 yards out. The delivery was an inviting one for the strikers but it went just over their heads.
Buoyed by that effort Al Hussenie started to attack more which was mainly down the left flank through Mohammed Rahuman, who had an excellent game. In the 20th minute a mistake by Zahira captain Azeem Azmy let Rahuman through in a four on two attack, but Rahuman went on his own and tried to curl the ball towards the far post which was brilliantly saved by Mohammed Usman. Unfortunately for him the clearance by a Zahira defender ricocheted off Keetige Sandaruwan and into the goal to tie the game at 1-1.
Then on it was end to stuff as both sides went in search of the goal to take the lead. Few minutes after the goal Zahira’s Mohammed Humaid had a chance but his left footed effort went past the right upright. Then goal scorer Sandaruwan was at the receiving end of a beautiful through ball and he tried at audacious chip over the keeper which skimmed over the cross bar.
In the 40th minute another marauding run by Rahuman leaving defenders in his wake, saw him cross the ball towards the far post which was met by a header from Mohamed Aman past the keeper to give Al Husseinie a 2-1 lead. But the lead was short lived as Zahira equalized just before half time after good work done by Humaid who drove the ball towards the by-line and crossed along the ground to the six yard box which was drilled past the goalkeeper by Mohammed Faroodh to send the game into halftime 2-2.
A similar brand of attacking and entertaining football was expected in the second half but the lack of fitness from the Zahira players who suffered cramps after cramps early in the second half gave the Al Husseinie players the chance to stroll towards victory. They did exactly that as they constantly attacked the Zahira goal. In the 57th minute Rahuman was again in the thick of things as he was put clean through one on one with the goalkeeper and his early shot was brilliantly tipped over the bar by Sri Lanka U19 goalkeeper Usman. Al husseinie went agonizingly close to taking the lead when the resulting corner was cleared of the goal line by the Zahira defender.
It didn’t take that long for Al Husseinie to find the third goal as the impressive Rauhman was at hand to calmly slot the ball past the keeper after a cross by Waseem. It was baffling to see Zahira coach not ringing in the changes even with their players going down in cramps which led to their down fall. Even though they had the ball Zahira didn’t have the legs to go past defenders to score. In the final minutes Afeel Mohamed put the game beyond doubt as he was the quickest in a scramble for the ball to drill the ball for the fourth goal for Hameed Al Husseinie.
