KUCHING: The semi-finalists for the 2013 Isuzu Cup Under-19 football tournament have been decided. The four teams are Limbang, Young Crocs, Kuching and Miri.
This was decided after the two matches played yesterday.
In the first match, Samarahan and SFDP-Young Crocs met with the former needing a win and the latter needing only a draw to qualify for the final four.
Samarahan appeared to take the upperhand when they took the lead late in the first half through Awang Muhd Faiz Hazziq.
The hardwork and fighting spirit of the Young Crocs, however, paid off when Mohd Noor Izwan Jewmo equalised in the 84th minute, resulting in a 1-1 draw at the final whistle.
Coach Safri Amit only had words of praise for the resilience and fight back shown by his young players.
“I am glad that my team did not give up after Samarahan scored first. We had this belief that we would walk away from this match with something and we did just that,” he added.
This was the third and last group match for the Young Crocs who had earlier registered one win and one loss, trouncing Sibu 6-0 and losing 1-2 against dark horses Limbang.
With the draw, Limbang and SFDP-Young Crocs emerge as the top two finishers in Group A with Samarahan, the suprise casualty, and Sibu exiting the tournament.
The second match also ended in a draw.
But the 2-2 score-line against Bintulu was enough for Miri to advance to the final four.
They qualified based on goals allowed difference. Both Miri and Bintulu recorded one loss each in their group matches.
Both teams had earlier lost to Kuching who top Group B which had only three teams.
Today is a rest day.
Both semi-final matches will be played on Thursday (Dec 19).
Kick off for both matches is 3pm at the two football fields at Unimas used for the tournament.