As the wind howls and the rain descends its fun to reflect on yesterdays great 3-2 finals win for the U14 Sharks over the highly fancied Nomads in the Christchurch International Cup.
In a great team performance it may be seem a little churlish to single out individuals but it was hard to not notice the performances of the following players in the spine of the team.
Firstly keeper Rouge Espinosa, who comes to us all the way from Barcelona, had a great tournament, was unbeaten until the final, and was a calming presence between the sticks in the final as the Nomads advanced more and more on goal as the game progressed.
Captain and centre back Nic “the Great Wall” Ball snuffed out many promising Nomad attacks with his no nonsense defending and also “chipped in” with some wonderful dead ball deliveries the first of which resulted in the slightly bizarre own goal that got IBU on the score sheet first.
In midfield, North Wellington guest player Miles Woodhall, born in England, more than justified his inclusion with a tireless & determined display against the robust Nomads team and topped things off with a wonderful individual goal which took IBU to 3-1 when things had started to look a bit creaky.
And last and certainly not least it was impossible to ignore the wonderful skills of striker Luqman Ibrahim, who comes to us from Somalia, flashing home a brilliant second goal from the left early in the game and generally being unplayable with his trickery and athleticism.
It’s also wonderful to reflect on the increasing diversity of the wider Island Bay whanau being reflected in the team and bodes well for the club into the future.
Lastly a shout out to coach James Prosser for pulling the strings behind the scenes and presiding over a very successful few days for the team and club.
I assume the team will be back next year to defend their title…. can’t wait!
Watch the game here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcZMby58mnQ
