Soul miss out on glory

Written by Arun Jandu Tuesday, 05 August 2008 10:52

A FOOTBALL club from Tower Hamlets have excelled in a world youth tournament in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Soul FC U-16s took part in the biggest youth football tournament in the world, the Gothia Cup.

The tournament consisted of 48 group stages, with four teams in each group. The top two teams from each group qualified for the A cup, and the bottom two teams qualified for the B cup.

Soul FC started with a win in their first game over a team from Sweden, then drew and lost there next two games, just missing out on qualification for the A cup on goal difference.

However, they started off well in the B cup, progressing to the sixth round where they had a tense penalty shoot out with a team from Kent.

With the teams level at four spot kicks each, Sajid Miah became the hero saving the decisive penalty to wrap up the win.

After beating another Swedish team 4-3, they reached the quarter finals, but were beaten by a team from Bosnia.

The teams taking part ranged from academy standard to Sunday league and included Brazilian premier league team Cruzeiro’s academy, who were crowned champions.