Belgium Tournament Round-up: All-Belgium Final caps a fine day in the Ladies Football.

by Janelle Mitchell (Ladies Football Officer) 

We had an excellent tournament this past weekend here in Brussels.  The weather held up and we even had a bit of sun to set the stage for a great day of football.

First up was Belgium Red (i.e. Tigers) vs. Belgium Grey (i.e. Old School Jerseys).  We were playing 11-a-side for this one and the intensity from both teams made for a thrilling match.  Tied at half, Belgium Red pulled ahead for the win in the late stages of the game. 

Next up, Belgium Red was taking on the ever-competitive Holland.  Again, both teams looked even through half with players like Linde, Maeve, Micheala, and Rosie stepping up their games both defensively and offensively.  After an interesting switch of positions by Holland (Rose moved back to cover Ciara), the tigers were able to pull away and put up both goals and points in the second half FTW (for the win!).

After this, Holland took on Belgium Grey.  Bros made her return up front and enjoyed all things forwards hope for: points!  This match was quite back and forth and nearing the final minutes of regulation, was all squared up and tied.  With the home crowd on their side and those old-school jerseys to boot, Belgium Grey was able to come out on top setting the stage for an all-Belgium final!

The final: back to 11-a-side with tired legs and minds ready to duke it out for the title.  It was A vs A in goals (Anna vs. Aine), captain Aisling vs. captain Ciara, Tigers vs. Oldies, etc.  And a solid final it was!  Belgium lines up quite well against Belgium - well all know each others strengths and weaknesses.  We know what pisses our opponent off, we know who is deadly around the goals, we know the little things that we may not normally know about our opponents.  And so we were off, with both teams converting points and goals early on.  As the sun was beginning to brighten, so did the 'fire' in the bellies of the Tigers and tournament all-star Anay used her 'spin-a-rama' move to put the points over.  The Tigers pulled away and were able to hold on to the late push by the Greys FTW.

Ladies, all around a successful tourny.  It is a pleasure watching and playing next to/against each and every one of you.  I think the level at which we played was a testament to the competitiveness and commitment of this club.  Special shout out to all of you who helped out in making the day run smoothly with all the odds and ends that needed to be done and/or baked.

GROUP GAMES
Belgium A (3-9) – Belgium B (1-5)
Belgium A (1-7) – Holland (1-15)
Belgium B (3-9) – Holland (3-8)

FINAL
Belgium A (0-13) – Belgium B (1-5)