Today was the big day, for 3 weeks we have been working towards this tournament between 3 Klang Martulis academies (coached by us and other volunteers) from different areas of Ghana and 1 other team called the Young Sappers!
the pressure was on and you could feel the tension rising around the pitch as the trophies were brought out and the shirts I gathered and brought with me were being used for individual awards, rising star, best player, goal king etc.
The morning was the games to decide who would be in the final. First up it was our U12's who were coached by George and Sly,
against the Young Sappers and we came away with a narrow 1-0 victory however they dominated the game and should have had more. Next was the Dodowa Klang Martulis academy v Ada Klang Martulis to decide who our U12's would play in the final, another close game but Ada won and looked a good side who could be tough to beat.
Next up the U17's were playing, coached by me and Jon we were playing Dodowa. We picked the team and gave the team talks, looking very professional with note pads, diagrams and arrows(!) we prepared the team who went out and again got a narrow 1-0 victory, deserved but not the greatest performance although they picked up towards the end of the game so we had positive points to talk about after the game.
The 2nd semi-final was Ada v Young Sappers, again Ada won which meant we would be playing them in both finals. We noted that the Ada team looked so much taller and stronger and had our suspicions, we were proved right when we found out that Ada were fielding their Senior team, not U17's!! The final was going to be tough as they were a much more physical team.
After lunch the crowds were gathering around the pitch and the Elders of the village of Ashaley Botwe (where we stay) arrived in traditional African attire to cast their eyes over the local teams performance and give out the trophies. As it was our village and with the elders arriving the pressure got even more intense. The 3rd and 4th place playoffs were irrelevant as we had both teams in the finals and we usd the time to prepare the teams, more team talks, warmups and to ensure they were switched on for the matches.
First up the U12's were playing Ada and George got them in for a pep talk. By this point hundreds of people had gathered around to watch and all thought it a little weird the local team were being coached by obrunis! The game started well and we wer on top playing the better football and implementing all of what George had coached them on for the last 3 weeks. Half time arrived at 0-0 so George made some changes and got the kids pumped for the 2nd half, they came out strong and scored midway through the half with a great strike by Atou, 1-0. The game was controlled and played out to a victory for George adn the Ashaley Botwe U12's, get in. One down one to go.
More and more people arrived now and the crowd were getting up for the showpiec of the day, the final between our U17's and the Ada senior team. The team talk went well, the team listened to our instructions, we were never going to beat them physically so had to encourage them to get the ball down and get it wide, play the football we have been coaching. The team came out of the blocks on fire and were playing brilliant football, our pace and passing was too much for Ada adn we could have been 4-0 at halftime if it wasn't for the goalkeeper having the game of his life. We did grab a goal from a great run by Vincent, beating 3 players before having a shot which deflected into the path of Jingo who tucked it away nicely, 1-0, the crowd went wild and the team ran to the corner and did some funky dance goal celebration. I got carried away and sprinted down the touchline to the players like Mourinho, if the ground wasn't so hard i would have slid on my knees. Half time came and Attah, another coach who thinks he knows everyting made 2 substitutions and moved players out of position. Ada were dominating for the first 15 minutes after the changes and equalied after a cross and some confusion at the back, our defender and captain who didn't put a foot wrong all day, nodded the ball into his own net! 1-1, things were hotting up. Me and Jon overruled Attah and rung the changes back to how we wanted it and the team picked up again and we should have scored again after another great run by Vincent but the keeper saved at his feet.
Final whistle........penalties.
We were first up and we scored, our keeper saved Adas first penalty diving to his left and all other penalties were scored, it came down to Vincent who had to score to grab the trophy......ball on the spot......3 step run up.......right foot strike......sent the keeper the wrong way.....GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We had done the double, the crowd went nuts, everyone ran onto the pitch and we ran around like lunatics singing adn dancing before calm was resumed and the trophies were handed out. After photos and more celebrations we took some of the team to the Gas Station to celebrate, I think the drinking laws are a little lapse out here but we only bought them 2 Smirnoff Ice each, they think it's a mans drink!!!! Quality night celebrating to the early hours....................Victory is sweeeeeeeet!
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