….Abuja All Stars Beat Unity Sports Foundation 2-0 to Win Veterans Invitational Tournament
….All Stars Emerge Champions of Abuja Veterans Invitational Tournament for the second time
…. Simon Akong’s Brace Secures Veterans Invitational Trophy for defending champions
A goal in each half by All Stars Abuja set them on the path of victory at final of the second edition of Abuja Veterans Invitational Football Tournament in Abuja
After a cagey first 15 minutes, the game gradually opened up with All Stars making incursions into the goal area of Unity Sports Foundation, the efforts finally yielded fruits as All Stars through Simon Akong opened their goal account after 35 minutes of play. All efforts to level up by USF proved abortive as the two teams went into the break with scorelines at 1-0
The second half saw a total dominance from All Stars as series of forays into the goal area of USF finally paid dividend as Simon Akong once again popped up to score the second and decisive goal that put nail in the coffin of their opponents.
Speaking at the end of the game, Chairman and Captain of Unity Sports Foundation, Mr Benjamin Anaguoye said the better team won.
“We lost to a better side today, they dominated play in all areas and we found it difficult to find our rhythm which played a major part in us loosing, but we want to focus on the positives especially making it to the final and by next edition we will try to win it,” he said
Meanwhile, All Stars coach Bassey Patrick said their victory is a result of hardwork and unpredictability of the team.
“Some of the clubs we played against have players who have played against us in the past and they understand our style of play. We tried to be creative which resulted in the way we dominated our opponents especially in the final match,” the young coach said.
The Chairman of the local organising committee, Desmond Ikwuje commended all the participating teams for their camaraderie and team spirit saying the tournament wouldn’t have been successful if they had not supported them
“It has been an interesting one-month tournament which has seen ex-internationals, captains of industries participating in this competition that has created opportunity to network and explore business relationships. Our next target is to make the competition bigger, increase prize money and hopefully get more financial sponsors.”
In the third place match Corporate Kickers Sports Club beat Unity Veterans 4-2 on penalties after normal duration ended in a 2-2 all draw.