April 12, 2008	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 5, 1429

KARACHI, April 11: Thrilling semi-final encounters saw Gharib Shah M’Dan, ZU Soccer Academy, DA Public School and Karachi Grammar School (KGS) all emerging victorious and reaching the Under-15 Youth football championship finals, to be played here on Sunday.

The day’s first semi-final between the equally-matched club teams of Gharib Shah and Zamzama United was 0-0 at the end of the first half. If Gharib Shah were experts at tackling the ball, Zamzama United showed how to run fast and obstruct their passes. However, the second half was a different story altogether with Gharib Shah on constant attack.

In contrast, Zamzama United players by this time appeared a bit tired. The first goal of the match came in the 40th minute when Gharib Shah’s forward Afaq headed the ball into the net from the right-out position. This was followed by Afaq’s second in the 48th minute which also sealed the fate of the match. Gharib Shah will now face ZU Soccer Academy in the clubs final on Sunday.

The second match of the day, which was also the first school category semi-final, between DA Public School and Bayview High was won by DA Public 2-0. The first goal for the winners came through their forward Nabeel Ahmed in the 17th minute. The second came in the 45th minute by the right-in forward Adil Nisar.

The match had its share of excitement too when first Nabeel was warned by referee Adnan Khan through the yellow card and later another DA Public player Usman Waheed was red carded for clumsily tackling his opponent from behind. Usman is now out of the tournament and will not be playing for his side in the schools final on Sunday when DA play against Karachi Grammar School (KGS).

The second school semi-final between KGS and Beaconhouse Jubilee was won by KGS 3-0. The clash saw one player — Shaezar Razi — standing out with a hat-trick. Shaezar scored his first goal in the 12th minute, the second in the 29th (through a penalty) and third in the 31st minute of the match.

Earlier, in the first club semi-final on Tuesday ZU Soccer Academy registered a 1-0 win against Gulshan Soccer Academy to make it to the final.

The decision to not have the clubs and schools play against each other was taken later in the tournament, after the conclusion of the round robin phase when it was discovered that many school team players also represented the football academies and having them play against their own schools in the championship just didn’t seem right.

The first final between Gharib Shah M’Dan and ZU Soccer Academy kicks off at 5:00pm on Sunday followed by the school final between KGS and DA Academy.