April 14, 2008	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 7, 1429

KARACHI, April 13: DA Public School and ZU Football Club lifted the Under-15 Youth Football Championship trophies on Sunday after proving themselves to be the best among 16 schools and just as many soccer academy teams, respectively, in the month-long tournament played out at the Khayaban-i-Rahat Stadium in DHA.

The final between the school teams, DA Public and Karachi Grammar School (KGS) was an equally-matched affair throughout the 50-minute encounter although the KGS boys were diminutive as compared to the lanky DA boys.

The match went into extra time when no goals were registered in both the 25-minute halves thanks to the vigilant goalkeepers on either side.

DA School’s Ali Aziz deserves a special pat on the back for making so many saves. Similarly KGS’s Saad Ahmed too excelled himself.

Keeping in mind that it was an equally-competitive match the score was 0-0 even at the end of extra time, forcing the tie to be decided on penalty shootouts.

DA eventually outclassed their rivals wining 3-2 to the sheer delight of coach Tariq Quraishi who screamed himself hoarse while urging his boys to score.

DA’s captain Talha Bin Faiyaz lifted the trophy for his school.

Earlier, in the other final between the two club outfits, ZU Football Club thrashed Gharib Shah M’ Dan 3-0. ZU, were on the offensive from the very beginning, with their first goal being scored in the fifth minute through striker Uzair Saleem. The score was 1-0 at half time.

The second goal for ZU came in the 27th minute through a penalty, scored by team captain Ali Raza who plays at midfield position. With the pressure mounting, the Gharib Shah boys, saw their fortunes plummeting in the 33rd minute as the third goal for ZU was slammed into the net by Yousuf Faqir Mohammad.

Even the the Balochi dancers in their resplendent colourful attire, who came to cheer their side failed in making Gharib Shah make a comeback in the game. ZU’s captain Ali Raza lifted the trophy for his side.

Karim Kerai of KGS was declared the Most-valued Player of the tournament while Osama of ZU clinched the title in the academies category.

The Golden Boot awarded for scoring the highest number of goals during the championship went to Shaezar Razi of KGS while Afaq Ahmed of Gharib Shah won the award in the academies category. Prizes for best coaches went to Mr Andre Bernard of KGS and Mr Khayyam of the Laurentian Football Club.

The matches were refereed by Adnan Khan with Farrukh Riaz as linesman and Yasir Ijaz and Saad Kazmi were the other ground officials.