In it’s culminating day, the third season of the Philam Life 7’s Football League has sparked an emotional rollercoaster for both the fans and the players as they’ve given us a game worthy of the final day festivities.
Before the start of the match and during the games of the men’s division, the kids of the U-9 division had a league of their own as they played under the sun while the players for the main event warmed up. When the opening whistle has been blown, the new champions Ghana FC went out like a rampaging lion willing to take what is theirs.
After two failed attempts for the 7’s championship, the Blackstars finally got the better of their rivals Super Eagles FC in their third consecutive final meeting. They started off hot as Emmanuel Embata kicked things off for them before Daniel Ashley doubled their lead in the first half.
The second half, however, saw a sudden surge of attack from the Super Eagles which resulted to them pulling a goal back behind Emmanuel Sylvanus’ effort. However, Junior Sam slotted in the marginal goal for them to bring home the trophy and be on the winning end of the African Derby in McKinley Hill.
“I told them (the players), this is not a revenge game because last season, the game was fully ours. Then I told my boys we have to go in and we will kill their confidence and that’s what exactly we did. 2-0 and their confidence were really shut down,” said by Ghana FC’s coach Ayi Bimbo regarding their win against their rivals.
After that win, they finally took the trophy away from the defending champions and broke their hopes of a three-peat. “It really is a sweet victory, not revenge”, said by coach Bimbo as he remembered how the Super Eagles edged them out last season by just a lucky goal towards the end of the match before losing in the penalties.
Meanwhile, in the all-star match between the Philippine All-stars and the Foreign All-stars, the Filipino selection led by the tournament’s founder and director Anton Del Rosario and Bohemian Sporting Club’s poster boy Daniel Matsunaga succumbed to a five-nil defeat against the squad headed by Hamed Hajimehdi and the league’s top-scorer Asare David.
Kathy Aihunu kicked off the scoring parade for the foreign all-stars before Asare David doubled the lead. When Hajimehdi scored their third, the floodgates were truly opened as it was followed by sick goals from Stacey Arthur and Ebere Ogochukwu.
And in the final match of the evening, it was a tightly-contested match between the #4 seed Stallion-Hiraya FC and tournament favorites Outkast FC. Stallion got off on the right foot as Aiza Mondero scored the opening goal for her side. With that, they put Outkast FC into chasing the ball and hoping to score the equalizer.
After the half-time break, the ladies in blue headed by Women’s National Team Head Coach Let Dimzon came out blazing as they chased for the elusive equalizer. Dimzon got an opening she was looking for the whole night as she headed the ball into the back of the net.
The game was then decided after a hiccup in defense gave Loreta Moredo the chance she was looking for to blast the ball past the keeper. In the end, they were crowned champions of the Inaugural season of the Women’s 7s Football League.
Now that the league is done, player will go back to their usual lives and would have to wait until August for them to showcase what they got in the fourth season of the league. Exciting times are ahead of us as there might be some surprise teams that you will see in the fourth season of the Philam Life 7’s Football League.
