The fierce rivalry on the Soccer pitch between the Westport Football Club and a talented United Nations team, comprised of soccer players from all over the world took place once again last week as part of jUNe Day. The match took place at Saugatuck school and although Westport fought valiantly, victory once again eluded them.

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The UN coach Aliamane Bacar Said described the match this way:

“This year’s game was announced as a grudge match with the Westport FC soccer team wanting to avenge their 9-7 loss of last year against the UN Soccer Team. However, the UN Soccer team got up early to a 2-0 lead thanks to two goals from Markus (from USA), just before injuring his hamstring and puling out of the game. Westport FC came back into the game thanks to an own goal from the UN center back. The game went to half time with the UN leading 2-1. The UN Team had over 20 players, and that required a lot of rotation by the UN coach Said (from the Comoros Island).”

“The Westport team seized the opportunity and pushed to tie the game. However, they were denied multiple times by the UN’s excellent goalkeeper, Salah Areikat (from Palestine). This push left more space in their defense and allowed AJ (from Nigeria/USA) to use his speed and score his two goals in the second half, in addition to the goal of a young midfielder (from Morrocco) who came in to give captain Mirko Montuori (from Italy) a breather. This ended the game with the score of 5 to 1 in favor of the UN Soccer Team who retained the trophy from last year.”

Photos By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.

The game was not a as physical as last year’s and both teams fielded younger and more technical squads. Unlike last year, the UN Soccer Team brought their own goalkeeper, a young player from Palestine who made 2 big saves with the Westport striker advancing alone on goal. He made many other saves to ensure this time that the UN Team did not concede any goal from a Westport player. The game ended with friendly handshakes and a group picture of both teams. The UN Soccer Team expressed its appreciation for the warm welcome received from the people of Westport and the spirit of friendship and fair play that was expressed during the entire game.

Westport FC coach Damien McClave added:

This was a close game played in great spirit. The first half saw Westport go down 2.0. We scored first in the second half with a great goal by Peter Dorgai our Man of the Match. That goal was assisted by Dario "Kaka" Decarvalho. As the game went on the UN team’s youth and speed were a big factor and they ran out 5.1 winners. Honorable mentions go to Mariusz Jasinski "goalie" on a fine performance. As well as Ritchy Jean Pierre, Brian Diez and Chris Gavrielidis on fine performances. Let just say the better team won but we'll be back next year for the 50th anniversary game.

Photos By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.