THE knock-out stages of the Inkk Mobile Battle of the Giants semi-finals will be the battle for supremacy between four teams on Saturday at Lautoka’s Churchill Park.
Underdogs Nasinu proved itself in the pool games after securing second place in its pool with a win over Nadi 1-0, a draw against Rewa 1-1 while it lost to pool leaders Lautoka 0-4.
Fiji Football Association president Rajesh Patel said the standard of play had increased and it would be hard to predict the tournament winner.
“Looking at the four teams, it will be hard to predict the winner because they are evenly matched,” Patel said.
“We have an attractive prize-money and other awards at stake.”
Lautoka is one of the favourites to win the tournament after outclassing their opponents during the pool games.
The Sugar City boys are table leaders in the second pool with two wins and a draw, outclassing Nasinu 4-0 in the first pool match, defeated Fiji FACT champion Nadi 2-0 in the second pool game and a draw against Rewa 1-1 to put them in the lead in their pool.
The Labasa team was drawn in a tough pool against Suva, Ba and Tavua.
However, the Babasiga Lions proved to be in top form after they secured two victories and a draw to claim the top spot and secure a place in the semi-finals.
Labasa defeated Ba 2-0, beat Tavua 2-0 but drew nil-all against Suva during the pool rounds.
Suva has secured a place in the semi-finals as runner-up from Pool A, after a huge win over Tavua 8-0.
Despite their goalless attempts against Labasa and Ba leading to a draw, the Capital City side is ready for an epic semi-final battle.
The first semi-final will be played on Saturday at 6.30pm between Labasa and Nasinu while the second semi-final will be played at 8.30pm between Lautoka and Suva.
The Inkk Mobile Battle of the Giants winner gets $17,000 while the runner-up gets $5000.
The third place winner gets $2500 while the fourth place team will receive $1000.
