Milo U13: Tanga Primary beats Kaladan Kaladan E. P primary to win Zone 1 Milo

Tanga Primary School defeated defending champions Kaladan Primary School 2-1on penalties to became the new winners of Zone 1 of the Under-13 Milo Champions League this year at the Lawra Senior High School Park, Lawra in the Upper West region.

Tanga Primary School fought back from a goal down in the first half to pull parity in the second half to send the game to penalties.

The annual event, which for the past five years had been sponsored by Nestle Milo kicked off with Zone One, which includes qualified schools from the five Northern Regions.

They include Northern region, Upper West Region, Upper East region, North East region and Savannah region competing to book a place in the National Finals of the league.

In all, 16 teams assembled for the championship from the five regions in the northern belt of the country.

Participating schools from the various regions were, Kundungu D/A Primary school, Karni D/A Primary school, Wa Municipal Model Primary school, Kay Robert Memorial Primary school, Bagri Baptist Primary school and Tuopare Primary school.

Others include Anateem Primary school, Songo Primary school, Bazua Primary school, St. Francis Primary school and Tanga Primary, Nyohin Presby Primary school, Savelugu Exp. Primary school, Kaladan E.P Primary school, Iddrisyya Primary school and WaleWale Primary school.

The day one of the competition saw both players and officials taken through football clinic led by Milo U13 icon and former Black stars captain, Stephen Appiah.

The clinic focused on developing skills, ball control, dribbling, attacking, defending, shooting and crossing. The soccer clinic also seeks to inculcate in the player Teamwork, determination, focus, respect, confidence and discipline on the field of play and in life.

The teams had to compete among themselves to get the eventual champions.

They were grouped based on regions to compete among themselves in a round robin contest, meaning the top teams from the five regions qualifies for the national championship.

After an enthralling and mind-blowing round of matches in both groups, the Upper West group became the most competitive group as they emerged table leaders with 12 points each but were separated using goal difference rule.

Kundungu needed a draw in their last game of the group after 4 winning streak against Wa Model Primary who needed nothing less than the three maximum points to stand a chance of qualifying. Karni also in that group needed to win their final group game to stand a chance of progressing and also had to score many goals as well.

Wa Model defeated Kundungu by alone goal to end Kundungu's dreams and were hoping for a miracle from the tournament's worst side Tuopare R/C who before the game had already conceded 10 goals without a reply in the competition against Karni D/A Primary who also had to win the game with more than 5 goals to qualify.

Karni record the tournament's biggest defeat on Tuopare beating them by 9 unanswered goals to progress from the Upper West group. The results meant, Tuopare were the worst team at the competition, conceding 19 goals without scoring to end bottom on the table.

Defending champions, Kaladan Primary school emerged group winners from the Northern region group winning 1 game and drawing the other.

Eventual winners of the championship, Tanga Primary school topped the Upper East group with 10 points after 3 wins and a draw in the group.

Karni primary school, Kaladan primary school and Tanga primary school joined the already qualified schools Iddrisyya primary school and WaleWale primary school to book their place at the national championship.

With more still to play for in terms of the zonal Champion, the 5 qualified teams were paired again with one on a bye in the quarterfinals of the competition.

WaleWale primary school were paired with defending champions, Kaladan primary school while Tanga primary school had to battle with Iddrisyya primary school with Karni primary school on a bye.

Kaladan primary school booked their place in the semis through penalties after drawing with WaleWale primary school while Tanga primary school progressed with a comfortable 2-0 win over Iddrisyya primary school

With three teams left in the competition, a tossed was needed again to determine the sides to play in the one off semi finals of the tournament.

Kaladan primary school was on bye as Tanga Primary school battled with Karni primary school for a place in the finals.

Tanga primary school prevailed over Karni primary school on penalties to book a mouthwatering final with the defending champions of the zone Kaladan primary school.

With cash prize, Nestle products and other Milo school supplies up for grabs, it was a competitive and scintillating final as Kaladan primary school seek to the defend the title while Tanga primary school were also on course to write their own history.

Tanga will be travelling to Kumasi later this year as proud winners of zone 1 dethroning Kaladan primary school.

All the participating teams at the competition were given 25 milo branded exercise books, 30 wristbands, 6 customized milo footballs, 2 boxes of Chocolim and 30 pencil cases.

The third placed team, Karni primary school went home with cash prize, 8 footballs, 2 boxes of Chocolim, 1 box of Milo, 40 wristbands and 40 pencil cases.

Second placed side, Kaladan primary school also had cash prize, 8 footballs, 50 wristbands, 50 books, 50 pencil cases and a box of energy cubes to themselves.

Champions of the competition, Tanga primary school went home with cash prize, 10 footballs, 70 wristbands, 70 books, 70 pencil cases, 3 boxes of Chocolim, 2 boxes of Milo and 2 boxes of energy cubes.

The five qualified teams from the zone were also given set of milo branded Jerseys with socks to be used at the national finals in Kumasi at the Paa Joe Park.

At the end of the competition, the Fair play went to St Francis primary school, Ali Shaibu won the Golden Boot with seven goals.

Shahadu Mundasil won the for keeping the post after three clean sheets whilst Abigiba Obed of Tanga primary school emerged the best player in Zone 1.

The championship will move to Zone 2 on Wednesday, May 29 at the Sunyani Senior High School where schools from Bono, Ahafo, Ashanti and Bono East Regions will compete for four slots for the National Finals.