Raha International School cruise to NSL wins

Matt Jones - Editor 12:47 18/10/2016
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  • Raha’s Tim Schmitz (l) helped himself to two goals.

    Then again, Raha International School’s whole approach to the Emirates Islamic National School League this year could be described as a little out of the ordinary.

    They have a female coach in American Desiree Small – although male counterparts will find out to their folly if they turn up against either of her Raha Under-14 and Under-16 teams this year expecting a walkover.

    Small claimed three big wins at New York University on Saturday. Her U-14 boys claimed two 1-0 victories against Al Yasmina School and Abu Dhabi Indian School (ADIS) – powerhouses of last year’s inaugural tournament – to book their place in the knockout stages.

    Her U-16s, meanwhile, pulled off the biggest result of the day as they thrashed ADNOC 7-1 following an opening day loss to ADIS the previous week.

    Despite the margin of victory, the team still ran laps after the match, not that there were any complaints. Small is the boss and her players know it.

    “Coach is the boss. That’s what we call her,” said Josue Sanchez, who earned man of the match against ADNOC having bagged a hugely impressive four goals and three assists.

    “She’s really good. It’s surprising because you never have female coaches in football but she’s great. She’s tough on everyone, we do laps after the game as she says we have to do fitness. She really knows her stuff.”

    Raha are making their bow in the NSL and Sanchez, 14, is dreaming of glory in a few months’ time.

    “It’s our first year but we want to win it, we’re confident we can win,” said the playmaker. “It’s a big tournament and it was good we won this week as we lost our first game last week.”

    Houssem Zaggar picked up the man of the match accolade as Raha claimed a narrow 1-0 win in their first game against Yasmina and he is also a big fan of Small.

    “The coach always gives us feedback and trains us well, after school and in the mornings, she’s a good coach,” said the 12-year-old, who admitted his winning goal was slightly fortunate. “Man of the match feels good and getting the winning goal makes it even better, but it was a lucky shot.”

    Khalifa Khaled was another star performer as his Al Dhafra side secured a fine 4-1 win over Merryland to send them to the top of the U-16 table and on the brink of the knockouts.

    Khaled, 14, Abdalla Wahbi, Omar Khaled and Omar Abdulaziz also netted but Dhafra were indebted to goalkeeper Mohamed Magdy who saved a second-half penalty as Merryland threatened a comeback.

    “It was a hard game against a big and fit team,” said Khaled.

    “We were up in the first half but our keeper saved a penalty and they came back at us, it wasn’t easy. They played so good and made us work.

    “We have two wins now, our aim is to get to the knockouts and win, although it’s going to be difficult.”

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