Eight teams from 4 groups qualified to be among the final 32 teams to battle it out for the 2016 Cargills Food City – FA Cup.
The tournament commenced on 21st November 2015 and is now in its 7th round. The 2016 FA Cup Championship saw the participation of 508 clubs and 32 teams have qualified to work-off the 7th round on a knock-out basis to get closer to the ‘Blue Ribbon’ trophy of the football world.
Of the 32 teams playing, 16 teams seeded are the top teams of last year’s FA Cup Championship and 8 teams are from last year’s Champions League. The rest 8 teams are the ones who have qualified from the 4 groups – 2 from each group.
Surprisingly only one club from Colombo, is among the 8 while the rest represent Dharga Town, Mannar, Ampara, Badulla, Gampaha, Jaffna and Puttalam which bodes well for the future of Sri Lanka Football.
Group A
Kirulapone United
Kirulapone United has been one of the surprise packages this season. They had to participate from the qualifying round to get into the 1st round, and since then it has been a dream run for them.
Languid Kirula United trumps Henamulla
Their toughest tests came in the 5th and 6th rounds where they faced former Champions League and one of the giants of Sri Lanka football, Ratnam SC and division I side Moragasmulla SC respectively.
Kirulapone United upset Ratnam in a nail-biter
Both matches went into penalties where Kirulapone United prevailed in thrilling fashion while in the 2nd round they thrashed Old Hameedians FC 7-0.
Kirulapone United edge Moragasmulla SC in a thriller
In the 7th Round (Last 32) they will have their toughest yet when they face 2014 Dialog Champions League winners Solid SC from Anuradhapura.
Qualifying Rd – Colombo City FC 0 – 3 Kirulapone United
1st Round – Henamulla Youth SC 0 – 1 Kirulapone United
2nd Round – Kirulapone United 7 – 0 Old Hameedians FC
3rd Round – Kirulapone United 2 – 1 Golden Eleven
4th Round – Kirulapone United 4 – 1 Old Royalists SC
5th Round – Ratnam SC 1 (4) – 1 (5) Kirulapone United
6th Round – Kirulapone United 2 (5) – 2 (4) Moragasmulla SC
7th Round Fixture
vs Solid SC – 1st May 2016 at Kelaniya Football Complex
Red Star SC
Coached by Colombo FC player Mohamed Ramees, Red Star SC only had to participate in the competition from the 5th round as they came into the Round of Last 32 last year.
Red Star knockout Barbarians SC
They faced home town rivals Barberiyan SC at City League Football Complex, where they won the match 2-0 while in the 6th round after being down 3-1 going into the last 10 minutes they stormed back to win 4-3 against SLTB SC.
5th Round – Red Star SC 2 – 0 Barberiyan SC
6th Round – SLTB SC 3 – 4 Red Star SC
7th Round Fixture
vs Colombo FC – 4th May 2016 at Vernon Fernando Stadium,Kalutara
Group B
St.Nicholas’ SC (Jaffna)
St.Nicholas’ too had to work their way from the qualifying round. Though their first two encounters were close, the next three were comfortable while another close one ensured against the strong Young Henricans SC in the 6th round.
St. Nicholas in a narrow win against Young Henricans
St.Nicholas’ SC will have to play out of their skin if they are to win in 7th round when they face Blue Star SC, who have come into the FA Cup final in the last two years, but will have home conditions in their favour.
Qualifying Rd – St.Nicholas’ SC 1 – 0 Annakottai Union SC
1st Round – St.Nicholas’ SC 1 – 0 Gnanamurugan SC
2nd Round (W/O) – Sri Vigneshwara SC 0 – 3 St.Nicholas’SC
3rd Round – St.Nicholas’ SC 0 (5) – 0 (4) St.Anthony’s SC
4th Round – St.Nicholas’ SC 5 – 2 Bombers SC
6th Round – St.Nicholas’ SC 1 – 0 Young Henricans SC
7th Round Fixture
vs Blue Star SC – 1st May 2016 at Ariyal Grounds, Jaffna.
Hilary SC (Mannar)
Hilary SC’s road to the 7th round had been an easy route, where they have only conceded just one goal while scoring 11 goals in the 5 matches.
The only test came in the 6th round when they met Olympic SC, where they won 4-2 on penalties after the match ended 1-1.
1st Round – Jolly Boys SC 0 – 2 Hilary SC
2nd Round – Jayanthi Nagar SC 0 – 4 Hilary SC
3rd Round – Ilanthalir SC (Kilinochchi) 0 – 2 Hilary SC
4th Round – Hilary SC 2 – 0 A’puram St.Anthony’s SC
6th Round – Hilary SC 1 (4) – 1 (2) Olympics SC
7th Round Fixture
vs Up-Country Lions SC – won 3-0 (W/O) at Kaalvaadu Ground – Mannar.
Group C
Liver Pool SC (Puttalam)
Not the Sri Lankan branch of Liverpool SC from England but they have been scoring heavily like their namesake.
They scored 6 each against Three Star SC and Young Bees SC, while scoring a total of 22 goals in 5 matches, with an average of 4.4 goals per game.
However the worrying factor would be their leaky defense where they have conceded 9 goals, almost two goals per game. In these coming crucial stages of the FA Cup defense will be a key factor.
1st Round – Liver Pool SC 3 – 1 Pearl SC
2nd Round – Liver Pool SC 6 – 4 Three Star SC
3rd Round – Liver Pool SC 6 – 2 Young Bees SC
4th Round – Brave Hearts SC 1 – 3 Liver Pool SC
6th Round – Liver Pool SC 4 – 1 Kekirawa United SC
7th Round Fixture
vs Police SC – 30th April 2016 at Prison Ground, Anuradhapura.
Brilliant SC (Ampara)
Apart from the 3rd round match which went into penalties, Brilliant SC has had a comfortable run-in to the 7th round.
They have already qualified for the Pre-Quarter final after Highlanders SC gave a walkover last week in the 7th round.
Brilliant SC is also one of the free scoring sides with 15 goals in 6 games and only conceded 5.
1st Round – Gold Mind 0 – 1 Brilliant SC
2nd Round – Brilliant SC 4 – 0 Eveready SC
3rd Round – Universe SC 1 (3) – 1 (4) Brilliant SC
4th Round – Brilliant SC 5 – 1 Lucky Star SC
5th Round – Brilliant SC 3 – 1 Olympic SC (Ampara)
6th Round – Young Star SC (Eravur) 1 – 3 Brilliant SC
7th Round Fixture
vs Highlanders SC – won 3-0 (W/O) at Municipal Council Ground – Ampara.
Group D
Jet Liners SC (Gampaha)
Jet Liners SC has been the most impressive side from the qualified 8 teams, simply because of their scoring spree.
They started off the campaign from the qualifying stage with a 9-0 win against Moon Star SC and followed it up with another 9-0 win against Kahatowita SC in the 1st round.
In the 7 matches they have played, they have scored an outrageous 37 goals largely thanks to their striker Ismail Abumere and have only conceded 4 goals.
Jet Liners see off New Star to book pre-quarter final place
Jet Liners are already through to the Pre Quarter Final after they defeated New Star SC on penalties last week.
Qualifying Rd – Jet Liners SC 9 – 0 Moon Star SC
1st Round – Jet Liners SC 9 – 0 Kahatowita SC
2nd Round – Jet Liners SC 7 – 1 Leo FC
3rd Round – Freedom SC 0 – 4 Jet Liners SC
4th Round – Jet Liners SC 1 – 0 Serendib SC
5th Round – Mawanella United 1 – 3 Jet Liners SC
6th Round – Jet Liners SC 4 – 2 Renown SC (Hatton)
7th Round Fixture
vs New Star SC – won 1 (5) – 1 (4) at Kelaniya Football Complex.
Comrades SC (Badulla)
Comrades SC could consider themselves lucky to be in the Round of Last 32 having three walkover wins in the 7 matches.
However in the other four matches they have scored 15 goals and only conceded one goal.
They will have to be at their best and then some when they host the Kings of Sri Lanka Football Saunders SC in the 7th round.
Qualifying Rd – Comrades SC 3 – 0 Old Duthians SC
1st Round (W/O) – United SC 0 – 3 Comrades SC
2nd Round (W/O) – Liberty SC 0 – 3 Comrades SC
3rd Round – Naseby Lakeside SC 0 – 6 Comrades SC
4th Round (W/O) – Young Marians SC 0 – 3 Comrades SC
5th Round – Comrades SC 3 – 1 Young Bird SC (NuwaraEliya)
6th Round – Geli Oya FC 0 – 3 Comrades SC
7th Round Fixture
vs Saunders SC – 1st May 2016 at Vincent Dias Ground, Badulla.
