Years 3 & 4 Football Tournament
Maccabi GB Primary School Football Tournament
Mill Hill Power League Wednesday 5th November 2008
On Wednesday 5th November Mill Hill Power League was full of schools eagerly anticipating the first Maccabi GB Primary Schools tournament of the year run in partnership with UJIA. The five-a-side football tournament for Years 3 and 4 saw eleven schools bring a total of eighteen teams to the event. This was the largest number of teams to attend a Years 3 and 4 tournament to date and all 150 children were buzzing with excitement as the games got underway.
The initial part of the tournament was made up of four groups. Within each group the top two teams would progress towards the quarter finals. The group stages saw some top quality games with some even better goal celebrations to complement both the excitement and enjoyment the young players got out of the afternoon.
In group 1 it was MMK A who won the group with Naima B coming second. These two teams would face Menorah and Sinai A respectively who had come first and second in group 3. Group 2 saw Kerem come top, without conceding a goal and Wolfson Hillel A come second. The final group saw Independent B come top with Moriah close behind.
The quarter final stages of the tournament were all very open games of football with plenty of goals scored. MMK A scored twice without conceding against Menorah to make it through to the semi final stages where they faced Kerem who had beaten Moriah three goals to one in their quarter final game. The other semi final included Naima B and Wolfson Hillel A who both won their quarter final games one nil.
In contrast to the quarter finals, the semis were tight games with all four teams desperate to make it through to the final. The fist semi final saw MMK A come from a goal behind against Kerem to almost take the lead, but with just a few seconds remaining, and the game tied at one all, a well worked move from the stripes led to a great shot and goal to earn Kerem a place in the final. The second semi final remained nil all for the entire match, with the help of some fantastic goal keeping from the Naima B goalie. The match headed into a penalty shootout, where once again the Naima keeper was the hero as he saved the final Wolfson Hillel penalty to put his team through.
The final was a very open game of football but somehow neither team could score the elusive winning goal. The game went to penalties once again, but this time both teams could boast of having a great keeper in goal and so the match was very much in the balance. Kerem took the initiative after two penalties, but a last save from the Naima B keeper took the game to sudden death, where Naima held their nerve to win the shootout and the tournament.
The afternoon came to a close with the medal presentations and both teams were sporting in their praise for the opposition. The winning Naima B team lifted the trophy much to the delight of the many parents who had come to support their school.
Maccabi GB's sports coordinator, Matt Travers, was pleased with the afternoon. "It is great to see so many young Jewish children together at one event. These tournaments are a great chance for the young players to show off their skills in a supportive environment surrounded by their families and friends".
The next Maccabi GB event is on Wednesday 12th November when the Year 5 and 6 children will get their chance to show off their skills at the Primary Football Tournament.