This year’s tournament was a huge success. If you remember last year, it took a while for all the teams to show up and we played that tournament on one day and we played small fields. Well, this tournament was BIGGER! Instead of just a Men’s Division, there was a Women’s Division! Eight men’s teams registered and showed up and six women’s teams did the same! The tournament was held over three days. And, we used our field and the local national high school field. So, this was a combined effort on the part of our organization and the local high school. Add to that, we had sponsors this year. The surrounding companies gave money so we were able to get trophies and new game balls.
Compared to the last tournament, the mood was completely different. Last time, everyone was a bit hesitant. Like, is this going to be fun? What are we allowed to do? But, this year, people starting showing up early. They would pick an area around the field and slowly their whole village would arrive to watch. We had people bringing coolers and selling food to each other. There were lots of smiles, tons of cheering for their team and an overall happy and content attitude throughout the tournament.
Caleb and I decided to coach teams this year instead of playing hard. If we didn’t step up to coach, we aren’t sure if our organization would have had a competitive team. Plus, as a coach, we could invite the best of the best to play. :) We both ended up playing some, but for the most part, it was all about our team.
The Men’s team won the final (this is the second year in a row). But, this time, they were playing against a much harder opponent. They had played two friendlies with this team in weeks leading up to the event, and both times they lost. So, for them to pull off a win was really exciting. Not to mention, they were down 2-0 at the halftime and came back to win (in the rain) 3-2.
The Women’s team came in third. The “American” in me wants to complain a bit. We were definitely one of the two top teams. You see, there were two pools. At the end of pool play, we were the only team with 6 points. Everyone else had 3. There were supposed to be two semi-final games, but instead, one team decided to combine their team. Anamunapa 1 and Anamunapa 2 became one team, so there really wasn’t a point to have a semi final. I think it would have been better to have Anamunapa play Beba and then we should have advanced to the final on our 6 points. But, such is life, right? Instead, we played a friendly, got beat tired and had to play the semi-final. But, our last game was really exciting. Beba scored in the first minute. Not good. Then, a couple of minutes later, they scored again. Yikes! We started to play better and work together as a team just when the ref (Caleb) called halftime after only 15 minutes of playing. Grrr…..we found out that the second half would be 30 minutes, so that was good. We were still down 2-0 with 15 minutes left to go. I decided to go in and earned a penalty kick (blatant hand ball in the box by the other team). I made it. YAY! We were 2-1. Then, 5 minutes or so go by and the other team scores. Oh no! Then, I score again. The other forward did all the work bringing the ball up from mid-field, but because I wasn’t dead tired, I was able to sprint with her. She tapped the ball to me and I was able to put it into the near corner. YAY! After that, I remember two to four other shots on goal….just none of them materialized. But, we had the crowd really cheering and enjoying themselves. So, at least we didn’t lose 2-0. Then, the final was played and it was pretty weak. The other team never even scored against an already really tired Beba team. So, I think that our game was much more exciting. :)
I really enjoyed putting together the team. It was a combination of high school girls and women who are really good. The combination of athleticism and stamina (that the high schoolers provided) was mixed with experience, knowledge and skills of the women. It was fun to watch some really pretty women's soccer. :)
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