Unfortunately for Champions, their name was a little optimistic as they only managed to get one point in their four games, despite some good goalkeeping from Baggio. In fact, they were unable to trouble the scorers on this occasion. Wallabies also had problems and were unable to repeat their form from the last competition. Yang played well to rally his team, but they also struggled to score. Arab Team One, led by Majid, started well, but were unable to match the top teams in this competition and eventually finished in third place.
Daddy's Family had a lot to live up to as Hosei students had won this competition on two previous occasions, but they started very well with a comfortable win in the first game. In their second game, they lost to the in-form Arab Team two; after that, they started to play better and easily qualified for the Grand Final.
Their opponents in the final were Arab Team Two, who dominated the first stage. Led by Abdul and Abdullah, they comfortably won their first three games (even if they had a few problems with their goalkeepers). Khalifa's red card for deliberate handball was easily outweighed by Abdullah's stunning volleyed goal against Wallabies which even drew applause from Ricky, Wallabies' goalkeeper!
In the Grand Final, Arab Team started off better, and the dream team of Abdullah and Abdul again combined to give them an early lead. However, the lack of substitutes was beginning to take its toll, and Abdullah in particular was looking tired. Takeshi, Moto and Kazuya started to take control of the game, and, before half-time, the Japanese students had a 2-1 lead. Arab Team needed to hit back quickly after the break, and Abdul almost managed it. His tackle and run on the wing left him with a one-on-one opportunity, but he was unable to score. Immediately, Daddy's family went up the other end and scored twice in succession to seal the game! Abdul continued to work hard and had a great chance to get a goal back just before the end. His shot wide summed up his team's performance in this game.
As the whistle sounded, the Japanese players celebrated; a third win for Hosei University in five tournaments! For the Arabic students, it was their second Grand Final defeat in their fourth appearance, and they're looking forward to the chance of getting their revenge in June.
The final act of the afternoon was the awarding of the best player medal. Daddy's Family's Takeshi and Moto impressed all tournament; Majid and Yang worked very hard for their teams, and Abdullah brought some great flair and skill to our competition. However, the overall best player was the man in the baseball cap, Abdul. Throughout the day, he had dominated the games and was a worthy winner.
That's all for another tournament, but a lot of students are already asking about the next one. I'll tell you what I told them; See you in June!!!