As some people view football as just a game, for these young and talented players, the soccer has become a beacon of unity, a platform to burry depression and anxiety, opportunity for them to interact with each other as one ‘family’ despite their cultural, religious and nationality diversity.

To keep the annual soccer “festival” of the overseas students of Jiangsu University, 4 new teams were formed to participate and compete for the 2019 OECian Soccer cup. The four teams are:

The machines

HALA FC

Titans FC

Team Dynamite

On Saturday 16th march, 2019 at the middle pitch, the first two matches were played among the four teams. This was the phase 1 of the group stages.

Match 1（6-5）

HALA FC vs The Machines

Match 2 （0-0）

TITANS FC vs Team Dynamite

The first match was played between the Machines and HALA FC. Before the commencement of the games, many spectators were present to watch the tournament. Effective preparation by the players coupled with intensive advertisement, attracted many viewers across the Chinese and the OECians.

At 12:10pm, the whistle for the first game was blown. The Players of the Machines and HALA FC exhibited their “C-Ronaldo” and “Messi” skills on the field to score more goals. They tried to score each other to gain more points. However, at the end of the first half, HALA FC scored 4 goals whiles the machines slashed two goals.

The return from the half break marked a period more defensive and striking tactics. At the end of the game, HALA FC scored 6 goals and the machines were able to draw back with 5 goals. The scorers for HALA FC were; styve (1), Eyeson (2), Altigani (1) and Mandela (1). On the other hand, Emma (1), Munachilor (2), Joe Boi (1) and Nelson (1) scored for the Machines.

After 2:15pm, the match between the Dynamites and Titans begun. At this moment, more spectators have surrounded the pitch to watch the football talent exhibited by the energetic and active guys on the park. The players played intensively and skillfully. However both teams proved to be an igneous rock to each other. No goal was conceded in both first and second half. Before the last whistle was blown for the end of the game, an unexpected shot was played into the net of the Dynamite. Nonetheless as the name depicts, the goal keeper in the person of Nana Kojo punched the ball to a different direction. The game ended with a nil at both sides.

The next games scheduled on Saturday 23rd march, 2019 will be between HALA FC Vs TITANS FC and Team Dynamite Vs the Machines at 12:00pm and 2:15pm respectively.

Thank you.

Credits:

Writer: Mansuur Husein (Olive Daily/Olive Media)

Photography: Ebenezer Ababio Tetteh (Ben) and Munashe