Legends won Santa Cup 2023

Last Sunday the traditional Santa Cup 2023 was held in Waigaoqiao. A total of 10 SPL V teams participated in the 7-aside tournament. The format consisted in 2 groups of 5 teams playing each other. The number one of each group will play the final.

Our first game was against Ferie and it was obvious we struggled a bit playing 7 aside. Plenty of opportunities were waisted and as the games are short you need to score first. Laurent our Captain for the Santa Cup 2023 came to the rescue and scored the one and only goal of the match with 5 minutes to go.

Our second game was a though one against Wellington. Their striker was giving Laurent a handful and sometimes it looked if they were both dancing a tango. However, we scored on a break through with Mamdouh. Laurent once seeing the ball flying over the top quickly decided to make a professional fault and caught the ball with his hands out of the sky. We all had a good laugh and Wellington asked if we were playing basketball or football? When we thought we got the win one of their players had a super strike straight in the top corner… We could only admit that is was a great goal. So 1-1 it ended!

Our third game was the most difficult as usual against a fast moving and combining Japan team. We were under pressure from the kick-off but with a bit of luck we prevent them from scoring. Paul was in fine form in our goal and stopped many attacks but Japan did score first when our midfield was left open. 1-0 down… That should be it but we thought otherwise. Paul was diving on top of two Japanese players and intercepted the ball and within one split second; he threw the ball on Nico’s chest. Nico had a perfect control and a quick combo between Fred and Mam gave us the equalizer.

Our last group match was against the Emerald and we knew that if we would win with two goals difference; we would make it to the final. We were going for the win and had several chances but missed a lot and the referee didn’t help either as he overlooked most of the fouls & handballs… Fred broke the dead-lock and scored the 1-0 with a solid strike. Five minutes later, it was Mehdi’s great strike after good combinations that took us to the final as we won 2-0.

The final was against Scotland who opted to defend more than attack. They were obviously betting on a favorable penalty shoot-out. As it stayed 0-0, that was indeed the scenario.

We quickly checked the status of our penalty volunteers. It was agreed that the first penalty was the most important one and therefore our Captain Laurent stood up to take the responsibility. What happened next will stay in our memory forever as his shot went so wide… That until today the ball was never found back. It looked that the miss would cost us dearly but Paul came to the rescue as he stopped Scotland next penalty. Mamdouh showed us how to do it and converted his with ease and when Scotland missed their third PK… It was all up to Nico’s feet to win the Santa Cup for us.