The Melbourne 2008 Homeless World Cup hit the half-way mark today as teams embarked on stage two of the tournament on the way to the finals on Sunday.Team Afghanistan put themselves firmly in contention for the final after coming from 1-5 behind to beat powerhouse Russia 7-6.
Revelling in the support of a huge group of local Afghani supporters, Afghanistan also beat Germany 9-8, taking a clear lead in their group.
Radio personalities Hamish and Andy showed their support for this unique event, acting up as special guest commentators at the Fed Square stadium, and hitting the pitch for a penalty shoot out with kids from the crowd.
New St. Kilda AFL draftee Colm Begley also made a guest appearance at the event, catching up with fellow Irishman in the Irish Homeless World Cup team. Team member Paul Farrell, 22, from Dublin, was presented with a St. Kilda guernsey and was taught how to take a “speccie”, while other players practiced kicking the unfamiliar AFL ball.
“What an amazing bunch of guys,” Begley said. “I’ll definitely be back on the weekend to watch them play and hopefully see them win.”
After finishing the preliminary round unbeaten in five matches, Portugal posted its first loss of the tournament against Kenya in a penalty shootout.
Crowds were treated to a feast of goal celebration dances by the Zimbabwean team as they beat the Netherlands 13-2 at Fed Square stadium.
It was another day of packed crowds at Federation Square and Birrarung Marr, with horns and flags announcing the arrival of the Norwegian contingent, Polish matches a sea of red and white and the Cameroon women’s team braiding
The Australian Street Socceroos had their work cut out for them today after drawing a strong group, including reigning champions Scotland, Poland, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa.
Despite some great plays, they went down 3-7 to South Africa, 2-7 to Ghana and 3-10 to Nigeria, putting the pressure on for their remaining matches in this group.
In the women’s competition, Uganda beat Cameroon 6-1 and Liberia went down to Zambia 1-4, with more matches scheduled this evening.
A match schedule, match reports and live results are available at www.homelessworldcup.org
For more articles on the Homeless World Cup, please click the label
Courtesy: The Big Issue
Photo: Photoworx
Published by Mike Hitchen, Mike Hitchen Consulting
Putting principles before profits
This blog will be on holiday from Dec 15 2008 -Jan 12 2009!
Putting principles before profits
This blog will be on holiday from Dec 15 2008 -Jan 12 2009!
