Home come from behind to claim Boys' U-15 title

JSSL Elite dramatically blew a two-goal lead to lose to Home United in the Under-15 Boys' final of the Junior Soccer School and League (JSSL) Singapore International 7's at the Padang yesterday.

Both teams played a total of nine games during the weekend and were victorious until the final.

In the seven-a-side final, Ko Seung Ho scored the opening goal for JSSL, while teammate Sam Young added a bullet header soon after to put their team 2-0 ahead.

But JSSL couldn't stop Home's fleet-footed Aizal Murhamdani and Kim Jun Hong from scoring to make it 2-2 after an intense 24 minutes.

The final then went into a minute of 3-on-3 sudden death, then to a 2-on-2, both of which produced no goals.

SKILFUL

In the 1-on-1 finale, Home's Muhamad Danish skilfully went past JSSL skipper Benjamin King to score the winner.

Speaking to The New Paper after their win, Home's U-15 head coach Yahya Madon said: "My boys did exceptionally well today, given that we had only two proper trainings.

"I saw the fire in the boys when we were down 1-0 in yesterday's game against Japan. We came back to beat them 4-1, so I knew we could do it again."

Yahya also credited Aizal's consistency over the tournament, where he scored in eight of their nine games.

"To be honest, I felt that I played well for the team and I did not let them down," said Aizal.

"I can't express how happy I am for my team and I owe all the goals to them."

Looking forward, JSSL Singapore managing director Harvey Davis said: "There will be an increase in the number of teams participating and the tournament will be held over three days in four different venues next year.

"We aim to get about 4,000 people to come from overseas just for the 7s."