Host team Hameed Al Hussainie beat their rivals St. Benedict’s college in the final match of the 7th schools invitation soccer tournament organized by the Hameed Al Hussainie College Group of 80 batch.
Favorites of the tournament Hameed Al Hussainie College under-19 team outplayed the green army with 3 goals to nil. The host team had more than 6,000 supporters including present boys, old boys, teachers, parents and the family members. Fans wearing red to show their support to their team to win the match was unique as the Sugathadasa Stadium was filled with red men. The men in green, St.Benedict’s college put up a quality game of football though they did not score any goals. The defense line lacked a bit of clearance which helped the red jersey players to score.
To make matters worse for St. Benedict’s college, Skipper Shashika Niran missed a penalty in the second half. St. Benedict’s boys were discouraged after the penalty was missed which helped the host team to score another goal and finish the match in style.
The opening goal of the game was scored by the Sri Lankan under 19 striker A.Rahman in the 18th minute; a missed pass by the green skipper Shashika to the opponent team mid fielder Hafeel who gave through pass to Rahman. Striker placed the ball from the side to the nets. Hameed Al Hussainie College team started their game from that moment. Men in green had a poor defense line. They were not organized as the second goal that went through could have been stopped easily.
Left winger Rizan received a corner kick to the far post which was easily headed to the nets. Green goal keeper Diloshan failed to stop the ball. Hameed Al Hussainie were leading 2-0.
Ben’s winger and no.08 Daniel Clement was good with his dribbling skills. His crosses to the striker Disal Senadi were perfect even though it was not completed with a goal. A shot taken by Chamod Dilshan on top of the box was punched by the host team goal keeper Dhinesh. The rebound ball collected by the defenders was cleared toward the attacking side, the skilled striker of Hameed Al Hussainie college Rahman lobbed a classic pass to his partner Hafeel who failed to score.
Hameed Al Hussainie led the game in the lemons 2-0.
The over confident host team started of the second half by playing a chilled game. None of them seem to worry about the ball. They cleared almost every ball they got. St. Benedict’s did not make use of this chance. They were awarded a penalty by referee Tharanga Pushpakumara for tackling the player without the ball. Red men’s goal keeper saved Shashika’s penalty. The boys in green had given up their game with the loss of the penalty.
Yet again the dangerous and fast moving striker of the host team Rahman made few attempts to score. Few shots were out of target. Rahman went through the defense line all alone by dribbling and ended up one on one against the goal keeper. He lobbed the ball which went over the goal post. An easy chance was missed. A few minutes later Hafeel made a brilliant cross with his left foot right on top of the box. Rahman had to give a slight touch to make it a goal, but he slipped before he touched the ball and missed the opportunity.
St. Benedict’s college received many easy scoring opportunities and they were disappointed with the failures. A corner kick at the latter part of the game awarded to St. Benedict’s college was missed by their striker and collected by the opponent striker Rahman who ended up scoring the third goal for his team. Dribbling the ball for more than 50 yards Rahman placed the ball when he faced the last man.
Match ended in favour of the host team with 3 goals to nil. Best player and best goal keeper was not awarded as there were some internal issue and a quarrel in the crowd which ended up inside the ground. So the organizing committee had to dissolve the proceedings immediately.
On the other side Old bens played the over 40 finals against the Colombo Veterans team.
The Colombo Veterans team consisted of players who made magic in the history of Sri Lankan Football but failed to win over the Old Bens team. There was no scoring during the match as it ended up in penalties.
Former Sri Lankan strikers Nasar Hameed and Anton Silva were marked by the Old Bens defenders as both of them are two of the dangerous players this country has ever produced. Left footer Anton Silva’s scary and bullet shots failed to reach the nets as he did not have the luck. A slow game was played by both the teams but very much enjoyable to fans.
Old Bens played a defensive game as they knew their opponents were way better than them. Their plan worked out very well as the match ended up with a penalty shootout.
Both the teams failed to score 2 penalties each and the deciding penalty was scored for old bens by their mid fielder Samantha. Old Bens won the game by 3 penalties to 2 out of 5.
