The Tibetan players delighted the crowds despite losing 3-0 to Abkhazia
Author James Hendicott is writing a boot about the 2018 ConIFA Cup called Football for the Forgotten. Read more about him and the book here.
Clattenburg awards two penalties as Barawa thump Tamils 4-0
by James Hendicott, Bromley
A hungry looking Barawa side swatted aside Tamil Eelam on Saturday evening, as the hosts formally launched the CONIFA World Football Cup at Bromley FC’s Hayes Lane, following an emotional opening ceremony featuring an impassioned ‘togetherness’ speech by CONIFA President Per-Anders Blind.
Barawa are a Somali side representing a small town in the south west of the country recently subject to a horrendous stadium bombing. They’re largely drawn from English lower-league teams, but have a stand-out star in right winger Gianni Crichlow, a pacey former QPR youth player who sat at the heart of the almost every attack.
Crichlow scored the best goal of the contest himself in the first half, breaking from halfway down the right hand side at pace and pinging a lob over the head of Umesh Sundaralingam in the Tamil Eelam goal from a tight angle, and in off the post.
His goal followed an opener that came from a piece of poor distribution from Sundaralingam, who played the ball straight to a Barawa man, leaving a long-range punt into an unguarded goal to open the scoring. A penalty gave the Somali side a 3-0 lead at half time, perhaps slightly overstated on the balance of play, as the Tamil’s had plenty of possession, but a reflection of the passion with which they approached the game, and their willingness to break at speed from the back.
The Tamil side were technically proficient, but seemed to lack an edge, though they did force several goods saves from Barawa as the match wore on. Barawa won most of the physical battles, especially through the middle, and more often than not Tamil losing the ball ended in a decent chance at the other end.
The second half was relatively tame, with Tamil Eelam improving but Barawa adding a fourth after a haul back in the penalty area.
Mark Clattenburg, a former top-tier English referee now working mainly in the Middle East, also kicked off his campaign at the game, awarding two penalties but going a little easy on Tamil when he opted not to give a red card for the latter, which blatantly fell under ‘clear goalscoring opportunity’.
Cascadia will need to get a result from both of these sides to progress at the World Football Cup. A win and a draw could be enough – and two wins almost certainly would. While Tamil look mediocre, Barawa are an obvious threat to progressing from the group. Cascadia play on Saturday.
