Girls Rule!
Out of all my footballing experiences, my third year of attending the Gothia Youth World Cup in Sweden has been the most rewarding. I play for an absolutely amazing club in Dubai called Go-Pro Sports Academy! Yes, I commute all the way from Abu Dhabi to Dubai to play with them. Which is a huge commitment and tacks on three extra hours of driving time to the game time. But trust me, these girls are worth it. I have never been on a team like this and felt like I was meant to play with them. We are like a family. The summer of 2017 was our teams second time to enter the Gothia Cup fielding a U16 team representing the United Arab Emirates. Our first year in 2016 was somewhat troubling because the girls didn’t know what it was like to play tough European and Scandinavian girls teams. The average age of our team was fourteen. However we played U15, as a group of us were experienced older players. It is important to note that age does not mean anything when you step on a pitch and understand how to play as a team.
This past summer when we participated again in the U16 age group we fought hard and made it as the first seed in our group! This allows us to advance to the A Group and be a contender for the trophy. We took care of ourselves and ended up making it to the round of 16. Everyone was astonished. Please note it was not that we did not believe we could it was just that we were undefeated heading into the knockout round. Luck has way of helping and hurting. Our first knock out game we played against the favored Brazilian team. The first half of the game we went into half time with a 2-1 lead. I was playing the game of my life. My head was in the zone. We kept our composure for the second half but towards the end I didn’t feel the team wanted it anymore. Our center back hurt her ankle; my striker wasn’t connecting with shots very well because she was aggravated; our center-mid was getting timid because of the tall and strong girl man marking her. We respected all of the refs’ calls. By the end of the game we lost 6-2. It was a sad and frustrating loss. Little did we know that we had not lost, we may have been knock out for the shiny golden trophy, what we won was even better. Our ultimate prize was still unknown to us but we had made a lasting impression during our journey this time around.
We got contacted later that day with news that shocked us all. A FIFA representative was watching our game and was impressed with how we handled the game on the field, on the sidelines, and when the game finished. He ended up nominating us for the Fairplay award. This was an award that the Gothia Cup had introduced to the tournament for the first time. And for the first time, we won it! We were one out of 4 teams win. We were the first female team to ever win the award. There were 1700 teams participating in the tournament and we were 1 of 4. We made history that day!
It felt amazing to get this kind of recognition because we worked hard to get where we ended. We never forget to respect ourselves, and everyone in the premise of the field. We always try to remain positive, respectfully and gracious whether we won or lost.
It was a moment I will remember forever!
https://www.gothiacup.se/2017/12/this-years-fairplay-trophy-winner/
