ST. JOSEPH'S: U-14 MUMBAI CITY SOCCER CHAMPS

U-14 MUMBAI CITY SOCCER CHAMPS

St. Joseph’s High School, Wadala, walked away with top honours at the DSO organized football tournament. The u-14 school football team was crowned Mumbai City Champions when they won the finals against Bombay Scottish via the tie-breaker at Don Bosco, Matunga grounds on Saturday, 15^th September 2012. In a match dominated by our youngsters, but unlucky to find the back of the net on numerous occasions, the indomitable spirit of our boys triumphed. It’s rightly said that physical sports and sporting competitions aren't always won by the biggest and strongest. There has to be, and there is, a large mental aspect to it too. Whether it is in pre-event preparation, in-game tactics, dealing with pressure, and then performance review.  You have to give credit to the head coach of this particular team, Mr. Micahel D’Silva, and the assistant coaches, Mr. Tony De Sa, and Mr. Avinash Gracious. They have transformed this team from easy pushovers to formidable achievers. Guts, focus and sheer determination have brought this team thus far.   

It was a pleasing afternoon for the Josephites – however physically and mentally exhausted at the end of it – when they outclassed the much stronger and physically built Bombay Socttish team through some tactical and skilful moves. They would have been ahead by at least a couple of goals, if not for some floundering at the opponents’ goal.  Having played a goalless draw at the final whistle, our boys held their nerves to emerge victorious 4-2 in the tie-breaker.  Earlier in the day, in the semi-finals, our team won 2-0 against St. Paul’s, Dadar.  Our ace-striker Tej scored both the goals. In the run up to the semi-final, they had seen the back of Bombay International and Aditya Birla, scoring easy 3-0 and 2-0 victories respectively.   

With the DSO tournament shoe horned in the middle of a busy MSSA calendar, our students have hardly any time for a break and a well deserved celebration. They move on to prove their mettle in the MSSA tournament, and also fight for a place in the DSO zonals in the days to come. However, that can wait. As of now, let’s celebrate their mighty victory. Three cheers, young Josephites!