Goals, suspense and excitement filled the air as Africa won the ISO World Cup Soccer 2008 tournament.
The International Student Organization hosts the annual tournament during two weekends. The group stages were April 5-6, and the finals were this past weekend.
The competition pitted eight teams representing eight countries against each other in a friendly competition designed to promote goodwill.
The group stages were played at the Hall of Fame soccer field, and the finals were held at Willis field.
Group A comprised Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Japan, while Malaysia, Nepal, Africa and India made up Group B.
Vietnam emerged as Group A champion to face Nepal, the Group B runner-up in the finals. Africa, the Group B champion, played Saudi Arabia, the Group A runner-up.
Africa won two games by 7-0 margins and the other games by three or more.
The Vietnam team had a large group of supporters cheering them on from the sidelines every game, shouting enthusiastically to urge their team to victory.
The field conditions and officiating disappointed some fans.
“I thought the referee was not very professional, and I was surprised teams had to provide the ball and that the goals had no nets,” said Valen Shee, an economics senior and Malaysia team captain.
“Overall, I thought it was a good tournament though.”
The tournament drew a sense of nostalgia from the supporters and players.
“I am a huge fan of soccer,” said Phuong Le, ISO Public Relations Officer and member of the Vietnamese Student Association. “When I was home in Vietnam, whenever the Vietnamese soccer team won, we immediately had a big celebration on the street right after watching the game. We rode motorcycles around, we danced, we sang, we yelled the names of our team and we really went crazy. It has been always the nicest memory for me. Watching ISO World Cup Soccer brings back those memories to me.”
The semifinals were heated as Nepal lost to Vietnam 2-1 in overtime.
“I wish they would have better officials at these games,” said Yerketang Kanat, an aerospace engineering sophomore.
His Nepalese team rallied to force extra time after being down a goal, but to no avail.
“I still had fun,” Kanat said. “It was a good thing to do with my friends.”
The Africa-Saudi Arabia game ended with Africa steaming to a dominant 3-0 victory. The eventual champions showed a lot of poise to see off a determined Saudi team.
Africa went on to beat Vietnam, the defending champions, in the finals to conclude the tournament.
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