Clash of the titans (From Asian Image)

Clash of the titans

11:21am Thursday 12th March 2009 in Sport By Ali Tilley

One big tournament and two familiar sides battled it out in the final.

Canaries took on the Deepdale/Santos Legends and were the last men standing this five-a-side tournament held to raise money for the Gaza appeal. It was held at the Play Football Centre in Preston.

In all 24 teams participated in the tournament with four groups of six.

Three teams (Terror Squad, Deepdale La Caruna and BBM) all progressed to the Quarter Finals with maximum points haul from their respective group matches.

The remainder of the Quarters was made up of DSL, All Stars, Real Preston, Galacticos, and Canaries. Gaza Al-Hashimi lead by a very tired looking Moulana Elyas Desai missed out by a single point.

Group stages also witnessed experienced keeper Fayaz Baruccha of Canaries well beaten by long range efforts from youngsters Mubeen Kasamri (age 16) of FC Dhammal and Ehtishamulhaq Batan (age 17) of Impossible Is Nothing.

In the Quarters BBM who had beat Canaries in the group stages came unstuck against a resolute Galacticos and DSL only just won 2-1 against Real Preston.

Canaries were fortunate as La Caruna keeper (Mohammed Amin Kothia) made a howler of a very weak shot by Jav Mohammed which crept in under his arms.

In the last of the Quarters an entertaining match saw All Stars edge pass Terror Squad.

The first Semi Final was played between DSL and Galacticos.

Galacticos who had played well throughout the tournament started brightly and passed the ball with confidence.

Emergency striker Jav Haji was having a wonderful tournament and was justly rewarded by scoring with his left foot on 8 minutes.

With just a couple of minutes remaining and DSL starting to run out of ideas Junaid Moosa with his famous left foot beautifully placed the ball pass the helpless Zubair Panchbhaya.

In the penalty shoot out both teams scored four from five. The sixth penalty saw Jav Haji being the unfortunate person to hit over the bar and thus resulting in DSL progressing to the final.

The second Semi Final saw Canaries against All Stars.

A couple of early shots by Billy Jackson failed to trouble the Canaries keeper.

As Canaries started to take a grip of the match Suleman Hafeji who had only just returned from a year long career threatening injury was through on goal and with the goal at his mercy Zubair Khan committed a professional foul.

With the referee failing to sin bin or send off the player justice was done when the resulting free kick was struck well by Saj Kalang and the resulting rebound was headed into the goal by Suleman Hafeji.

All Stars just could not find a way pass the canaries defence and with time running out a long ball by All Stars keeper Martin Dietz was intercepted by Mohammed Bapu who unselfishly passed to Saj Kalang who delicately slotted the ball in the goal to make it 2-0.

With barely any time left a pass from Junaid Kalang to brother Saj made the scoreline 3-0 to Canaries.

The final was contested by two of the most successful footballing teams of Preston.

Canaries who in the past 12 months won both the 11-a-side UK Asian Community Cup and 7-a-side Abdul Charity Cup were looking to complete the full set by winning this 5-a-side tournament.

On the other hand DSL who have previously won Abdul Charity Cup on five occasions were looking to add to their trophy haul.

Canaries started brightly and within a minute Jav Mohammed beat goalkeeper Samsuddin Valli with a well struck shot to give Canaries the lead.

With Canaries taking an early lead DSL had no option but to attack.

Junaid Moosa and Sufyan Saleh had a couple of shots saved well by keeper Fayaz Baruccha. On the counter attack Canaries players failed to capitalise with Suleman Hafeji and Jav Mohammed missing good opportunities.

Then there was an altercation between Suhail Suleman and Minaz Bux with both players rightly warned by the referee.

As the match headed towards the final two minutes a lack in concentration from Canaries allowed DSL to take a quick free quick and Arif Isap buried his shot into the back of the net to level the scores.

Even at this stage there was still time for another altercation between Canaries Jav Mohammed and DSL’s Minaz Bux but with barely seconds left referee Badre Alam used common sense by not using the red card.

In the penalty shoot out Canaries scored via Suleman Hafeji, Mohammed Bapu and Fayaz Baruccha.

DSL had Junaid Moosa and Minaz Bux score for them. It was left for Arif Isap to take the last DSL penalty.

Although previously warned Arif failed to follow rules and his first penalty from which he scored was correctly disallowed by the referee.

His retaken penalty was saved by the keeper and thus Canaries completed their full set of trophies.

Big thanks to Mohsin Bargit who came up with the idea to hold the tournament and clubs raised in excess of £1,000 on the day.

The trophies were kindly donated by Sajid Maqbool of Haji Cash & Carry (Rochdale).

Tournament organisers would like to thank participating teams, supporters, volunteers, referees, Sajid Maqbool of Haji’s Cash & Carry of Rochdale. In association with Canaries FC.