ID Please?

Saturday 5th February. U'14s tournament. Same four teams, same four sets of coaches. Same rules...almost!

This week instead of the conventional 3 pts for a win, 1 for a draw and none for a loss, we decided to go all Emirates Cup, and threw in a new rule, that any goal scored would also score one point for its team. The reason behind this thinking was that we wanted to see more of the attacking football and great skill shown by some of the players in last weeks tournament, and consequently more goals. The referees also changed this week and it was Adam and I that took the whistles!

Although this week was U'14s, any players from the U'11s deemed good enough for the older age group were more than welcome to play. Therefore there were a lot of familiar faces amongst the newer, older players. This led to some argy bargy between the coaches, Pingi in particular strongly demanding that one of Giantkillers substitutes was not allowed to come on as he was too old and would have his tournament next week. This display of discontent from Pingi seems extremely hypocritical given the recent discoveries that his GK and probably star performer from the U'11s tournament is in fact 13!!! I think we will have to introduce registration cards and some form of ID next week! (and perhaps a touchline ban for Pingi).

So to the football. The first round of fixtures saw last weeks two finalists play out a 1-1 draw due to an equalising penalty from GDM's Sameto, whilst Academica got the day off to a flyer with a 1-0 win over Murroco.

In the second fixtures, Giankillers got back to winning ways with a 2-1 win over the impressive Academicas. This game had it all. After Academicas had gone ahead via a 'Paul Gascoigne vs Scotland' esque finish, Giantkillers centre back popped up with a stunning drive from inside his own half to steal the points.

Meanwhile, the new goalscoring rules had an adverse effect as GDM and Murroco had to settle for a 0-0 draw.

In the final round Giantkillers cruised to a 2-0 win over Murroco to seal their place in the final for the second week running, whilst it seemed that Adam's refereeing was having an affect on the teams on pitch 2, with a second consecutive goalless draw!

In the 3rd place playoff, surprise strugglers GDM took the lead after fantastic work from 10 year old Nello Jeque down the left wing. Nello is definitely one we will be keeping our eye on as his quick feet, skill and intelligence shine through every session we have with him and in both tournaments so far. Murroco finally scored their first goal of the tournament to make it 1-1 before GDM restored their lead. Another equaliser looked like it would take the game to penalties but for a last minute own goal from GDM's Ananias to give Murroco 3rd place.

The final was more of a game for the defenders, and looked like it would again go to penalties, however Academicas were pipped at the post by a late winner for Giantkillers to retain their title.

Alex and Abu were clearly thrilled with their teams second win in two weeks, and this week they were joined on the sidelines by Hardlife Sande, the first team captain who is currently on a coaching course in Zimbabwe and was thrilled to see the opportunities we were bringing for the kids!

This weeks 'Melhor Jogador de Campeonato' was Academicas centra back Vano, who's performances throughout the day really warranted him being on the winning team, conceding only 3 goals.

Once again, the celebrations almost outshone the football itself! Until next week...