The Kotmale Chox Schools U19 Football Championship is into the Quarter Final stage headlined by the heavyweight clash of Zahira College and Maris Stella College.
St.Peter’s College v St.Sebastian’s College – 1st Quarter Final
St.Peter’s College will meet St.Sebastian’s College, Katuneriya in the first quarter final on the 11th of February at 2.30pm at the Race Course Ground.
The Peterites are firm favourites but are without their star performers Afam Akram and Suntharaj Niresh who are on National duty at the South Asian Games.
Last Year’s Runner-Up St.Peter’s College topped Group A winning all their five matches while scoring 29 goals and letting only 2 in. That is an average of nearly six goals per match. Their closest rivals in the group were S.Thomas’ College whom they beat 2-1 after going down early.
St.Sebastian’s College – Katuneriya won against De Mazenod College 2-0 and 9-0 against Zahira College, Puttalam. However they lost 3-0 against St.Joseph Vaz College and eventual winners of the group St.Henry’s College. They finished the group with 9 points and though they haven’t scored as many as St.Peter’s their defense is strong.
In the build up to the quarter final St.Peter’s College lost 3-0 to Maris Stella College, so St.Sebastian’s will fancy their chances against an Afam-Niresh less Peterites.
LIVE – St.Peter’s College v St.Sebastian’s College
Zahira College v Maris Stella College – 2nd Quarter Final
Two of Sri Lanka school football’s heavyweights meet in a final worthy encounter in the 2nd quarter final.
Last year’s Champions Zahira College would have met Maris Stella in the final, given that both sides won the quarter final and semifinal had Zahira played against Holy Cross in the group stage and won. Instead Zahira gave a walk over to Holy Cross resulting in them becoming 2nd in the group.
Zahira College thrashed Royal College and Wesley College 5-0 and 7-0 respectively while Maris Stella topped Group B ahead of Kingswood on goal difference after both sides finished on 12 points.
Zahira College will be without Mohamed Shaheel the Sri Lanka U19 striker as he is Sri Lanka squad for the South Asian Games and a lot would depend on Sri Lanka U19 vice-captain Farood Faiz. Zahira College is ably coached by former Sri Lanka and Air Force player and current Double Champions Colombo FC’s Mohamed Roomy.
Maris Stella surprisingly lost to Kingswood 3-1 in Kandy but came back to humiliate Ananda College 13-0 and Hameed Al Husseinie 5-1. They also won against St.Joseph’s College Maradana 4-0 and St.Joseph’s College Anuradhapura 4-1.
Maris Stella College also possesses two Sri Lanka U19 players in enigmatic striker Dilip Peiris and creative midfielder Sandeepa Fernando. It will be an interesting and entertaining battle between these two sides at 4.30pm on the 11th of February.
LIVE – Zahira College v Maris Stella College
St.Henry’s College v Dharmaraja College – 3rd Quarter Final
The football giants from Jaffna, St.Henry’s College take on Dharmaraja College in what looks like a mis-match after group A runners-up S.Thomas’ College pulled out due to unavailability of players.
St.Henry’s College won four of their group stage matches while drawing against De Mazenod College 2-2. St.Henry’s won against St.Sebastian’s College, St.Mary’s College and St.Joseph Vaz College. The lads from Jaffna have scored over 17 goals and have conceded only 2.
Since S.Thomas’ College pulled out third placed Dharmaraja was promoted to the quarter final lineup and it will be an uphill task for the Rajans. Rajans won three matches in their group, that of S.Benedict’s College, Lumbini College and Maliyadeva College. They lost 4-0 against St.Peter’s and 6-1 against S.Thomas’.
The match will be played on the 12th of February at 2.30pm at the Race Course Ground.
LIVE – St.Henry’s College v Dharmaraja College
Holy Cross College v Kingswood College – 4th Quarter Final
Group D winners Holy Cross will meet last year’s Division II winners Kingswood College in the 4th and final quarter final.
Holy Cross won 5-1 against Wesley College and 2-0 against Royal College while they got a walkover from Zahira College which propelled them to top of Group D.
Kingswood College defeated Ananda College 3-0, St.Joseph’s College 2-1 and Maris Stella 3-1 while losing out to Hameed Al Husseinie 2-1 which unfortunately landed them the 2nd place in the group thought they won against first placed Maris Stella.
Kingswood have Sri Lanka U19 striker Anjana Wickramasinghe and will be favourites to go into the semifinal.
The match will be played on the 12th of February at 4.30pm at the Race Course Ground.
LIVE – Holy Cross College v Kingswood College
