Evbareke Secondary School, the venue of the maiden edition of the Imole Gold Cup, have witnessed top-class performances from top teams as the stage continues to steam with the best of top-class football Benin City can produce at under 16 levels.
Namo Sports Foundation played Rockers FC in a quarter-final match that saw the decider of the first Semi-Finalist in the tournament. After drawing first blood from a beautifully taken freekick in the first half, Namo Sports Foundation saw themselves emerging as the favourite to make it through to the next round.
Rockers FC, however, produced their own comeback, banging a freekick to put things squared, before Namo Sports Foundation came to the party with two late goals to better their opponents.
On Saturday morning, Bristol Kings completed a massive comeback from two goals down to push their game against Dynamic Stars FC to kicks from the penalty mark. Bristol Kings last kicker, however,r, failed to convert, allowing their opponents to secure a 5-4 victory from the spot.
Golden Stars FC continued their impressive Start to the tournament with a 2-0 comfortable victory over Delight FC, who struggled throughout the entirety of the game in the second quarter-final match on Saturday.
Santos FC and Shooting Arrows FC had to settle their scores with each other after the game, which was suspended after a heavy downpour on Thursday evening, was rescheduled for Saturday afternoon. The game continued from the 25th minute as it was the time on the clock when the referee sounded his whistle to halt play with the heavy rain on Thursday.
Both teams couldn’t find the breakthrough at full-time, so the scores were left to be settled from the penalty mark. Santos FC then stunned everyone at the match venue with their kicks and advanced to the Semi-Finals at the expense of Shooting Arrows FC.
The Semi-final matches will be held on Monday and Tuesday next week from 3PM at the Evbareke Secondary School and the fixtures are as follows:
1 Santos FC vs Golden Stars FC
2 Dynamic Stars FC vs Namo Sports FC