By Kemoh Sesay
Skye Rangers and Area Best have won the Western Area (WA) Craig Bellamy Foundation (CBF) Under 14 and Under 12 championships respectively over the weekend at the Approved School grounds Wellington.
Rangers defeated High Tension FC 2-1 in the U-14 finals, whilst Area Best won on post-game penalties against Malcolm FC 5-4 to clinch the U-12 Championship.
Mohamed Lamin Kamara, head coach of Area Best was delighted at wining against the defending champion Malcolm FC. “We have been waiting for this opportunity for a very long time…this victory will be used to expose these young players at the national finals in Makeni,’’ he said.
Coach Kamara attributed the winning to the collective effort of his boys and technical team, and noted that they have been taking part in the CBF league since it started, but this was their first time of reaching the finals.
Malcolm FC coach Ismail Mammah sounded very disappointedafter losing to Area Best. According to him this was the first final they have lost in the CBF League U12 category. “I want to thank my boys for their excellent performance… we took the lead twice in the match, we are going to prepare ourselves for next season” said coach Mammah.
Coach Ernest Musa of Syke Rangers said he has proved his critics wrong as they were not tipped as favorite to win against High Tension Football Club. He said“We have a huge task ahead of us to win in Makeni”. The coach said,“My boys failed to capitalise on the chances they had… in football you have to take your chances if not you lose the match and that is exactly what happened to us, we will come back strong next season with a different approach’’.
The league manager of CBF Mohamed Sow thanked both teams for winning the championship noting that“this demonstrates that CBF is doing extremely well to improve grass roots football in the country”, adding that the two Champions from the western Area, Area Best of Calaba Town and Syke Rangers will join winners in the other regions to take part in the nationals final, scheduled to commence on the 16th of July 2013 in Makeni.
He added that the winner of the U-12 and U-14 category in the national final will have football items from the CBF Academy and the opportunity for some of them to enter the football academy.
(C) Politico 09/07/13
