Bartamaha (Garoowe):- The boys from Banadir region where Somalia’s capital Mogadishu is located have won the country’s regional football tournament for peace and development after defeating their Bari region rivals by a goal to nothing in the final match on Friday afternoon.
Banadir’s 17 year old striker Ali Mohamed Awow scored the golden goal for his team in the 4th minute of the hotly-contested match against Bari region.
High profile dignitaries including Puntland regional president Abdirahman Mohamed Faroole, Somali NOC first vice president Duran Ahmed Farah, ministers, MPs and governors of both Banadir and Bari regions were present at the stadium nearly an hour before the beginning of the final match.
“Before travelling to Garowe I had more confidence in my young boys and they really scored the victory I have been expecting from them in the past” Banadir region’s coach Abdullahi Siyad Mohamed told reporters after his side won the trophy.
Somali Football Federation president Said Mahmoud Nur who talked to reporters after the end of the tournament said that his federation has been arranging the regional cup for the past two and half years.
“Today we have confirmed the successful end of the long-awaited regional tournament and here in front of you I say with a loud voice that we could not have achieved such victory without the constant assistance from FIFA president Joseph Sepp Blatter who helped Somali football to exist despite war and difficulties in our country,” president Said Mahmoud Nur told reporters.
“Blatter, the president of the world football governing body is praiseworthy, because he made all he could to help the continuation and development of football in war-ravaged country, while knowing that Somalia is one of the most dangerous battle grounds in the world currently,” Said Mahmoud Nur said.
The Secretary General of the Somali Football Federation, Abdi Qani Said Arab also said that the regional tournament was a good beginning and his federation will continue organizing such tournaments each year.
“We have had two huge goals from this competition, the first one was to select young players who will be able to represent the nation in future football events around the continent and the whole world and the second is to show the young Somali boys that they can come together and work together,” the secretary general told reporters.
“We are thanking the Puntland government for the courageous move it took and the great responsibility it embraced,” Mr. Abdi Qani said. “More than 56 young men who have good future in football have been shortlisted,” Mr. Abdi Qani added.
The Puntland regional state president Abdirahman Mohamed Faroole who was watching the match himself was honored to present the trophy to the victorious Banadir region team.
“I say congratulations to you and I really admired how well you exhibited yourselves during the match,” the president told the Banadir region team captain as he was presenting the trophy to him.
According to a statement from the Somali Football Federation, the holding of this tournament marked the re-assembling of the once disunited Somali youths and it was the first of its kind held in war-torn Somalia since 1987.
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Source APA
