Set beneath the never-ending
beautiful blue skies of Santiago
and the welcoming shade of the city’s Parque Forestal, the Football for Hope
Festival South America 2008 couldn’t have hoped for a more fitting location for
its final day of street football action. And as always, the football, and more
importantly the spirit of fair play and friendship, lived up to the high
standards set earlier in the week.
Following
Friday’s exciting second group stage matches in the neighbourhood of Cerro
Navia, an area of Santiago
where violent crime is sadly a daily occurrence and where local organisation
CHIGOL uses football to try and provide an alternative to the area’s young
people, the stage was set for the knock-out rounds of the street football
tournament.
Winning points on and off the pitch
Delegations
representing countries from across the entire South American continent and
specially invited guests from South Africa battled it out between the boards of
the 5-a-side pitch before sitting down to discuss how well each team respected its
teammates and the opposition as well as the rules decided upon at the start of
the match. Victory on the pitch was worth three points, but with a total of six
points up for grabs for respect and solidarity, the game could easily be won
pitch-side.
The semi-finals
FIFA
General Secretary Jérôme Valcke paid the Festival an unexpected visit for the
semi-final stage of the tournament, adding a little more excitement to the already
buzzing stadium. The first match saw Eprocad of Brazil sneak through against
the mixed Ecuadorian delegation of A Ganar and Ser Paz, while the second match
between local team Edugol and the Liga Argentina de Fútbol Callejero
(Argentinean Street Football League) was a hard fought match between old rivals
Chile and Argentina.
The finals: Brazil v. Chile
In
a true example of the Festival's friendship and solidarity, the finalists
played wearing their opposite number’s shirt – the Brazilians in the green of Edugol, the Chileans in the navy blue of Eprocad. The final could hardly have
been scripted better, either- a perfect combination of silky football skills,
teamwork, friendship, fun and a penalty shoot-out. Despite the home crowd
support for Edugol, it was the Brazilians who inched through by one goal,
although watching the two teams celebrate arm in arm in the middle of the
pitch, and quickly joined by all the festival participants, it was difficult to
tell who the champion was.
Written by Chrissy Davey
Read the December 1st article
Read the December 3rd article
Read the December 4th article
