Will the high riding St.Peter’s College create history by dethroning the Kings of schools football or will they be crash landing at the hands of the mighty Zahirians?
The first ever Kotmale Chox U19 Schools Football Championship Finals conducted by Football Federation of Sri Lanka will be played at 3.30 pm on Tuesday 19th August, 2014 at Sugathadasa Stadium as the heartbeat of Sri Lankan sports, ThePapare.com will be bringing you the live coverage of this thrilling encounter.
St Peters the find of the season had been unbeaten in this tournament beating the soccer giants from Kandana De Mazenod College by 3 goals to1 at the semi finals and the team is in high spirits to meet the challenges of Zahira physically and mentally.
Also Peterites look favorites for the finals as they beat Hameed Al Husseinie by 3 goals to nil in the quarter finals leaving no further room for the champion soccer outfit in the tournament. A further mental boost would come through the fact that Hameed Al Husseinie beat Zahira in a 3 goals margin.
The forwards of St Peters who include the energetic Afam Akram and Isuru Sampath along with midfield linchpin Niresh Suntharaj play to an exceptional game plan and the skillful players will pose a threat to any school football side this year.
St.Peter’s have been in excellent form this tournament with a close 1-0 win against their arch rivals S.Joseph’s College in their opening group game, hard fought 2-2 draw against a strong Joseph Vaz side and cruised in the next couple of games with 5-1 and 8-0 wins against Holy Cross Kalutara and Lyceum International School respectively. In their quarter final they met the all conquering schools football powerhouse Hameed Al Husseinie and simply outplayed and outclassed the Kotahena lads 3-0. They booked a place in the finals with a crushing 4-0 win against another football powerhouse in De Mazenod College, Kandana.
Zahira on the other side had a real set back in front of thousands of spectators when they lost the opener against their rival Hameed Al Husseinie conceding 3 goals in just 10 minutes and lost the match 4-2. However they came back in true Zahira patent. Zahira, created with a long standing and colourful history to come back to the grand finals of Kotmale Chox beating pre-tournament favorites Maris Stella by 3 goals to 1 at the semi finals at the Stadium.
Team Zahira is well balanced and the players are skillful to meet any challenges posed by Peterites at the final. Sri Lanka U19 and Zahira goal keeper, Mohomed Usman was excellent between the posts when he saved a couple of goals against Maris Stella and the Peterites forwards will have to have extra effort to beat him to find the net. But the Zahira defense line have to pull up their socks as there were many gaps in the back resulting heavy pressure for the goal keeper and the fast paced Peterite forwards will take the advantage to find the path through to the goal mouth.
Hats off to Rev Fr Rector Fr. Trevor Martin a true football lover for bring up the Peterite football up to a higher level with the St Peters Football Foundation and the coach Former national player Isuru Perera for producing some exceptional tactical play to have reached the finals of Kotmale Chox Football Championship 2014.
Zahira College which enjoys a house hold image for quality football and enjoying a decorated football history producing many national players with Coach M. Roomy. The team will come out to go all out to retain their football glory with a following of thousands of thousands soccer fans to take home the Kotmale Chox trophy which is 36″ inches in Height [ 3 feet] and weighs 7 Kgs.
Live streaming www.thepapare.com
