Image courtesy: Benjamin Smith
After a successful season two of the Victorian Champions League (VCL), it all comes down to this weekend for the VCL Zones, who will battle it out to be crowned Champions of the Victorian Champions League.
The semi finals and grand finals will be held this weekend at Harvest Home Reserve, Epping for the boys and the Events Worldwide State Football Centre (Darebin International Sports Centre), Thornbury for the girls.
All semi finals will be played this Saturday 6th February, with the grand finals and classification games to be played on Sunday 7th.
Like week one of the finals series in Shepparton, all 12 Zones in all age groups will play off again this weekend, however, only the Zones who finished on top of their “pool” groups from last weekend will have the opportunity to play off in the major semi finals on Saturday, and the major grand finals on Sunday.
The remaining semi finals and grand finals were fixtured as a result of last weekend’s matches, meaning teams of a similar standard will play off against each other, making for some fantastic football and a terrific opportunity for state selectors to have one last look at our young football talent in action.
Under 13 Boys In the Under 13 Boys, the Western Wolves, North East Diamonds, North West Wanderers and South East Cougars will battle it out for the Championship after finishing on top of their “pool” as a result of the matches last weekend in Shepparton.
The Western Wolves will be hot favourites to take out the Championship after finishing on top of table after the home and away series. They will play the North West Wanderers in their semi final on Saturday. This leaves the Diamonds and Cougars to battle it for a grand final spot, with the Diamonds to start favourites for that match, after winning both their games in Shepparton.
Under 13 Girls The South East Cougars were convincing winners of their “pool” group, defeating the Wimmera South Coast Eagles 5-0, and the Northern Allstars 4-0. The Cougars will play the Southern Blue Tongues in the semi final on Saturday. It will be hard fought match for both teams trying to get into the grand final, as the Blue Tongues also won both their matches against the Western Wolves and North West Wanderers.
Loddon Mallee Lightning and Central City will come together in the other major semi final. Central will be looking to their goal scorers Beatrice Goad and Alicia Vakalopoulos to continue their good form from last weekend.
Under 14 Boys After winning their “pool” group in Shepparton and conceding only eight goals up until the end of the home and away season, the Western Wolves are hot favourites for the Under 14 Boys Championship. The Wolves face tough competition in their semi final against Central City who won both their matches last weekend. Under 14 Boys Top Goal Scorer, Anthony Laus is a player Central will have to contain if they are to win.
In one of the closer “pool” matches from last weekend, the North East Diamonds came out on top against the North West Wanderers and Wimmera South Coast Eagles. They will now play in-form South East Cougars for the final spot in the grand final.
Under 15 Girls
In what should be one of the closest semi finals for the day, the North East Diamonds will battle it out against Rivers FC with the winner securing a place in the major grand final on Sunday. The Diamonds have been the team to beat all year; however Rivers had a very successful first weekend of finals and will be hard to beat.
South East Cougars and Loddon Mallee Lightning were lucky to get through to the other major semi final, after facing tough competition in their “pool” group matches last weekend. The match will kick off at 11.30am on Saturday at the Events Worldwide State Football Centre (Darebin International Sports Centre).
Under 15 Boys It was the South East Cougars who prevailed in their “pool” group in Shepparton, with the North East Diamonds and Gippsland Knights missing out on the opportunity to play off in a major semi final because of goal difference. The Cougars will face the Southern Blue Tongues who topped their “pool” group ahead of the more fancied Central City.
The North West Wanderers and Western Wolves will play off for the final place in the major Under 15 Boys grand final. The Wanderers’ Ryan Opperman scored in both matches last weekend, while Dimitri Degrenis, Maksim Golijannin and James Conversano were all multiple goal scorers for the Wolves.
Under 17 Girls In the Under 17 Girls competition, the North East Diamonds will go into the weekend as favourites to win the Championship, after topping their “pool” group in Shepparton last weekend.
The Diamonds will play the Southern Blue Tongues in the first major semi final, after the Blue Tongues held out the Gippsland Knights to top their “pool”.
Hoping to secure the final spot in the major grand final will be Loddon Mallee Lightning and Rivers FC. Their match will kick off at 2.40pm on Saturday at the Events Worldwide State Football Centre (Darebin International Sports Centre,) pitch two.
Football Federation Victoria would like to wish all Victorian Champions League teams the best of luck for the final matches of season two.
For full fixture details, including information on the other semi finals and grand finals to be played over the weekend, please see the Competitions section of the FFV website.
Last updated: Thursday February 4, 2010 9:05AM
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