Colombo SC and Blue Star SC into final

Colomb FC and Blue Star FC¦ qualified for the final of the Cargills Food City FA Cup when they defeated Sri Lanka Army SC and Sri Lanka Navy SC In the semi finals played yesterday eveing at the Sugathadasa Stadium .

Colombo FC knocked out defending champions Army SC by 4-2 in a penalty shoot in the first semi final while Blue Star FC overcame Navy SC by 6-5 in a penalty shoot¦.

In the frist semi final both teams played hard to score a goal but the half time ended without any goals scored. In the second half in the 51st minuted, Colombo FC skipper Raumi Mohideen gave a good pass to striker T F B Dimitri defeating the Army defenders crossed the ball to, K A D Madusanka who neatly shot the ball in the Army net to score their first goal.

Thrilled by the goal most of the Colombo FC players ran out of the field while the Army players placed the ball in the centre. Now as the referee whistled for the centre pass there were only a few players of the Colomb FC ready to play while other were on their side of the filed but unaware of the ball being passed.

The soldiers swiftly passed the ball closer to their oppnent’s goal while Lalith Kumara booted the equilizer in the very next minute. In the penalty shoot, Momas Yapo netted the first goal for Colombo FC but Nadeeka Pushpakumara of SL Army missed their first opportunity. Dimithri, Thuwan Rizni and A C Frank made no mistake with their shots for Colombo FC. For the Army FC Madusanka de Silva and Keerthi Kumara converted their opportunities into goals and the final result was decided when Y L Janatha of Army missed his kick.

In the second semi final Blue Star FC overcame Sri Lanka Navy SC by 6-5 in another thrlling penalty shoot. Most of the game was played under wet ground conditions as rain poured down from time to time during the first 90 minutes.

Both teams scored a goal each in the second half to go for penalty shoot. E A C Sanjeewa scored the first goal for Navy while Richard equalized for Blue Star. In the penalty shoot Blue star scored consecutive three goals while Navy missed the their first opportnunity but scored the other five;