BURNABY – Burnaby FC ended their winter soccer season being on top. After narrowly missing the podium at the Surrey Mayor’s Cup the boys came together for their final victory in the most competitive group of U17/U18 boys group at the 34th annual SBMC’s annual tournament held in Burnaby.
The boys came determined to win and faced opponents that were not only older but also from higher divisions. KLM Kings – the first opponent, created with players from three Vancouver clubs, were first in their 4 district gold division, won the divisional pioneer cup and are still in the provincial cup playoffs. However, Burnaby FC took a stunning halftime lead of 3-0 and shocked their opponents. The domination caused desperation and frustration thus the trailing team became aggressive and their physical play took over. With a few melodramatic dives resulting in a penalty kick score and kicking the ball out of the goalie’s hands twice, causing injury even though he had possession, KLM was able to tie the game.
Nevertheless, Burnaby pressed on for victory even into the final minutes whereby they had several opportunities to score from corner kicks. Two players missed the open end of the net from a corner right before the final whistle. In the end even the tie was a win for Burnaby as they went on to shut out the rest of their opponents and thus finished in first place in their group. This led to a final match up against another KLM Vancouver team and won 4-0. Burnaby FC was crowned tournament champions. KLM Kings “super team” lost to the SBMC Gunners by points for the 3rd and 4th place position and finished in 4th place.
Many of the Burnaby boys played bronze and silver just a few years ago but with great coaching and development have become stars. Twins Jonas and Jefferey Cheok kept the defense solid, Anthony Matkovic, one year younger, provided the best goaltending of the tournament along with team captain Hitkaran Johal who pushed his team to a sensational finish. “This was a great way to finish the season but we’ll still be thinking about the what if’s. If our players had not been injured during the season we would have gone much further in the Cup play but in the end we showed the talent that was on this team. Anyone can put a bunch of great players together and have a great team but we developed these players and that is why this championship win is special – especially for the coaches. They believed in us and followed through. They appreciate what we have done for them and we are proud of them. Their hard work paid off. We are so happy for the boys”.
Burnaby FC is coached by Bal S. Sanghera, Paul S. Hundle and Jag S. Sanghera.
