U11 boys football team win SISAC City Championships 2018

Last week we heard about our U11 boys B team taking the victory in the B pool inter-city football tournament and this week we're pleased to announce our boys A team are joining the B team in their victory!

Congratulations to BIS U11 boys for becoming the A pool champions for a second year running. This takes the BIS tally of football trophies this season to 2 after the B team took a sensational victory in the B Pool Tournament. BIS can rightfully claim to be the strongest footballing international primary school in the city with this win!

Team List: Edward CPT, Sebastian, Rens, Jamie, Subin, Jay, Kai, Soma

Coach: Mr Mark

The event this year was hosted at BIS HCMC Junior Campus with a 1pm first match kick off time. The tournament which had 6 strong footballing schools in attendance was split into two groups. The top two teams from each would play against each other in the semifinals and then finals.

In BIS’ division we had ABC and AIS TT International school.

The first match for BIS was against ABC who were strong contenders in the B pool a couple of weeks ago. BIS played some nice football in patches but also tended to give the ball away too easily and not make the correct passes when they should. With this being said, they managed to score 4 good goals by moving the ball effectively from midfield up to Soma who held the ball up well. The goals in this game coming from Jay, Rens and Sebastian scoring twice. Credit here should go to the defensive set up of Subin, Jay, Jamie and Edward who kept a clean sheet and looked confident in doing so. The boys were still moving up through the gears in this game and didn’t fully gel as a team. This would change in the upcoming games.

The second game saw BIS face off against AIS TT who on paper were as strong as the ABC side we had just defeated. The game proved to be much easier than expected. This is not down to the quality of the opposition, but due to the excellent play of the BIS team who were moving the ball much better in this match. Sebastian was pulling strings in midfield, breaking up play and transitioning the ball well from defense to attack. Kai and Jamie were offering width and pushed forward when they could. Soma was making some terrific runs in behind the defense and linking with his midfield counterparts. The final score here was 7 – 1 to BIS with the goals coming from: Sebastian (3), Soma (2), Rens and Jay.

This win put us top of the group and through to the Semi Finals against SSIS who lost 3-2 to ISHCMC in their last group game. The boys knew this would be a tougher game and they would have to work hard to secure the victory. Again, the boys passed the ball well and looked to go forward when they could. They passed the ball up to Soma who held the ball up well for us to move from defense into attack. At times the back three lost possession inside our own half. A lapse of concentration at the back cost us a goal completely against the run of play. The boys showed great bounce-back-ability by scoring very quickly after this error. The final score line in this match was BIS 4 – SSIS 2. Therefore, we would face ISHCMC in the final. Goal scorers: Soma (2), Jamie (1), Sebastian (1).

ISHCMC had not lost a game going into the final and neither had BIS so it was set to be a very close encounter. BIS maintained possession well at times during the match and threatened the ISHCMC several times. The deadlock was finally broken shortly into the first half. The boys defended well and had to repel a number of attacks. A good save by Edward from a free kick kept the home side in the lead. An injury to center back Jay meant that the winger Jamie had to fill in at the back. He did this with great skill and determination. In the final throws of the games and well into injury time, ISHCMC managed to level the score line with a goal. Disaster therefore for BIS who looked tired and suffering from a few small injuries.

The game was set to go to a penalty shoot-out. Sebastian, Rens and Jamie stepped up to take the first set of three penalties. ISHCMC misses their first penalty only for Sebastian to put his wide. ISHCMC missed their second penalty and Jamie scored his making the score 1-0 and advantage BIS. ISHCMC scored their third penalty and BIS looked set to win. Rens however missed the crucial last penalty to send the shoot out to sudden death. The scores were level until the 6^th kicker. ISHCMC had their penalty saved by Edward. Subin stepped up to the penalty spot after being instructed by the coach to “hit the ball as hard as he could with his head down!” With a run up of several feet, Subin raced toward the ball and struck it with great ferocity. All the ISHCMC keeper could do was watch the ball fly into the roof of the net.

A special mention to the coaches and the boys from ISHCMC who were very gracious in defeat and showed great sportsmanship.

Well done BIS!

Mark Jones, Physical Education