LAHORE: In a nail-biting final Highlanders Academy edged out Silver 3-2 as the fourth and final slot for the Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five national final was decided at Islamabad’s Total Football Club.

Highlanders Academy now joins Karachi’s Steel Town FC2, Lahore’s Fantastic Five and Peshawar’s Ghosts FC in the national finals that are also going to be staged in Islamabad in April.

The knockouts of the Islamabad leg were staged on Sunday. Sixteen teams took part in the Round of 16 after which the eight winners Jabha FC, Kamikaze, Highlanders, Nights Watch, Jinnah FC, GC United, H.I.T FC and Silver competed in the quarter-finals.

Silver edged out GC United while Highlanders Academy thrashed Kamikaze in their respective semi-finals.

The winners of the national finals will be crowned Pakistan champions and will proceed to Santos, Brazil, later in the year to compete in the world finals.

A total of 35 countries are expected to compete in the Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five World Finals scheduled to take place in July in Brazil.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2016