Al Madeena MV - Champions (All Island U16 Schools' Football Championship 2018)
Al Madeena MV, Nindavur beat Al Qamar Central College, Bammanna on penalties to win the All Island U16 Schools’ Football Championship 2018 held at Wayamba University Grounds, Kuliyapitiya.
Peterites Crowned District Champs
St. Peter’s College Colombo was crowned Colombo District Under 16 Football Champions 2018
24 boys’ teams, champion and runner up from districts all over the Island lined up for the final stage of the tournament. The teams were drawn in to 8 groups with each team playing 2 matches in the group stage. The group winners and runners-up then moved to the knockout stage.
Navanthurai Jaffna, St. Joseph’s College Anuradhapura, St. Mary’s Negombo, AL Ilma Badulla, De Mazenod Kandana, Nooraniya Kegalle, St. Peter’s College Colombo and Al Azhar Thihariya emerged group winners.
St. Joseph Vaz Wennappuwa, Kalutara Muslim Vidyalaya, Zahira College Gintota, St. Benedict’s College Colombo, St. Joseph’s College Colombo, Deerananda College Ambanlangoda, Al Qamar Kuliyapitiya, Al Madeena Ampara were runners-up in their respective groups.
An open draw where group tops were paired against the runners-up saw some exciting match-ups in the pre-quarter final stage.
Pre-Quarter Finals
Nooraniya College beat Deerananda College 2-0 while Kalutara Muslim MV beat Al Ilma Vidyalaya 3-0.
Al Qamar CC and St. Mary’s College defeated Al Azhar and St. Joseph’s College 5-3 and 4-3 on penalties respectively.
St. Peter’s College hammered St. Benedict’s College 5-1 and St. Joseph Vaz beat St. Joseph’s A’pura 1-0. Al Madeena secured a 3-1 win against Navanthurai Jaffna and De Mazenod beat Gintota Zahira 6-5 on penalties.
Quarter Finals
St. Peter’s played the first of the matches against St. Joseph Vaz and won comfortably with a 4-0 score line. Mohamed Ihsan got a hat-trick. Nooraniya took on home team Al Qamar CC in the second. Al Qamar won a tough game with an early goal.
Al Madeena Ampara took on De Mazenod College who surprised all by beating Gintota Zahira. De Mazenod had the game in the bag till the last-minute leading 1-0. A goal keeping error cost them as the Ampara boys went on to win the penalty shootout 5-4, after equalizing at 1-1.
Another surprise package St. Mary’s Negombo who bundled out St. Josephs’ College in the pre-quarter final beat Kalutara Muslim MV on penalties (5-4) after the game ended 1-1.
Semi Finals
Tournament favorites St. Peter’s College took on Al Madeena MV Ampara in the first of the semi-finals. It was a one-sided affair where the Colombo boys were far superior in all aspects of the game except the finishing in front of goal.
The Peterites were made to pay for their missed opportunities in front of goal as the game ended 0-0. Al Madeena went on to win on penalties 5-4.
Home team Al Qamar CC with a vociferous support took on St. Mary’s Negombo in the second semi-finals. Al Qamar got the better of the Negombo boys with a 2-0 win and moved into the final.
3rd Place
St. Peter’s College and St. Mary’s took on each other on a game neither wanted to be part of as the two strongest teams in the tournament. The first half was scoreless as both teams went at each other. In the second half Peterites got their scoring boots on again as Daresh Tissaarachchi and Mohamed Ihsan scored a goal each to give the Bamba boys third place.
Final
Al Madeena came into the game with 2 penalty shootout wins in the knock out stage and looked to follow the same plan against Al Qamar CC. The game was goalless in the first half. Goal mouth action was few as the game progressed. At full time the game was tied at 0-0 and went to penalties.
Al Madeena players converted all their 5 peanlties as they did in the previous matches where Al Qamar missed their final kick to give the boys from Ampara the Championship.
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