Though the final was not as entertaining and fun for the spectators as the two semi-finals, which were very much keenly contested by the teams, it still was a bit of fun.
The Moroccan team in the final was more organised and they played like players who have been playing regularly than their opponents. Although, the competition was for fun and coming together of Africans in Groningen, it was a disappointing final match.
Because as afore-mentioned the Moroccan team was much better. Their ball control, passes, counter-attack and finishing in front of the goalkeeper was much better. So it was not a surprise that they won the trophy.
 |
| Morocco with their Trophy |
When Nigeria was down 4 - 0, I said to the man next to me, if they continue to play in a disorganised manner, by the end of the match they may be conciding 12 goals. But they improved a bit especially the strikers, even though they waisted so many scoring oppoturnities in front of the goalkeeper. They pulled one goal back and got a penalty towards the stoppage time, the final result was 4 - 2.
''When you are on the pitch you want to win. I am very happy that we won again, because we won them in the group phase, so we were a bit afraid before the kickoff, that they would want to revenge their earlier defeat,''
Mr Miloud said.
Many people came to watch or participate in the tournament, with their wives and children. There were music, food, and play facility for children, who really enjoyed themselves, as they played with each other. It was a beautiful sunny day.
The one day competition which involved ten teams, representing different African countries, were played first in group phases. There were two groups of A and B.
The teams in Group A were, Guinea, South Africa, Congo, Sudan and Somalia. While in Group B were, Angola, Nigeria, Morocco, Ivory Coast and Angola Mixed.
After the teams have played each other in a group, the two with the highest points in each group, qualified for the semi-final. The team with the highest points in a group, played the second highest points in the other team.
All the teams that participated in the one day football tournament, did try their best and enjoyed being involved. But the team I was surprised not to see, at least in the semi-final was the Guinean team, captained by a former professional footballer, Mr Camara.
In most part of their matches, they played okay, but their defence concided many goals, which affected their qualification to the semi-final.
Congo won Sudan 3 - 0 in the third place match, Sudan won the Fair-play award. The award for the best referee of the tournament, went to Mr Riek, while Mr Bakati won the best player award.
One of the organisers of the summer event, Mr S. Toure, declared the tournament a success, when I spoke to him. He was very happy with the participation of many people, and believes that as this year's event was better than that of last year, so will next year be better than this year.
''It was a success because in the first edition (1st edition), we started with only 5 teams, but now we have 10 teams in this year's competition.''
''We are happy that many people came not only to enjoy the football tournament, but they also enjoyed the music and food,'' Samuel Toure said.
It was a good effort on the part of the organisers, to bring many African nations together, as they did to enjoy the summer and have fun. I believe Mr Toure that next year's tournament can only get better.
Read also: melvinsports.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment