Lycee Francais International Georges Pompidou coach Fiederic Deswarte said his team maintaining their perfect record in the Emirates Islamic National School League (NSL Football) was a welcome distraction in the aftermath of Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris.
The French international school’s Under-16s maintained their march towards the knockout stages on Saturday, a fourth straight win acquired courtesy of a 5-1 victory against GEMS Our Own Indian School.
The triumph moved LFI level on points at the top of the Dubai Pool 1 standings with The Millennium School Dubai, and Deswarte said his team’s performance and the rich mix of cultures on parade in the NSL was a fitting tribute to the people who lost their lives.
“Football was definitely a nice distraction to concentrate on,” said Deswarte of the Dubai-based French international school where all students are French speakers, but come from a variety of countries, including Lebanon, Canada, Morocco and Egypt.
“Those people that lost their lives on Friday, the best thing is to play and show people that life is not war. Life is something like on the football ground, shaking hands with foreign opponents and all getting along.
“Football is life so that’s why we need to concentrate on these things, to share moments with these Indian players from Our Own Indian School. This is real life.”
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Yahya Iraqi’s hat-trick carried his side to victory, Chahin Hamdaoui and Lucas Tetart adding the other goals, while Mohammed Safwan became the first player to breach the LFI goal-line in four games as he netted a consolation for OOIS.
Elsewhere in the U-16s section, Mohib Zaidi returned from a two-week injury break to score both goals as Wellington International School kept themselves in contention for the knockout stages with a 2-0 success against GEMS Wellington Academy Silicon Oasis.
“It was just my second game because I got injured after the first game, so to score two goals on my comeback was pretty good,” said the man-of-the match, who’s brace fired his side up to third in Dubai Pool 2.
“I’ve come back stronger and hopefully now we can make the knockouts.”
Springdales School finally tasted success at the sixth attempt as they beat bottom of the table Credence High School 8-1 to pick up their first points of the season in the U-14’s age group.
Aryan Gulati scored an incredible six goals as Springdales jumped from ninth to seventh.
“We have lost every game so it was our first win. I scored a double hat-trick and we played good,” said the 13-year-old.
“It has been a bit depressing turning up every week, having lost every time, so this gives the whole team a boost and a double hat-trick today makes up for all the defeats.”
At the other end of the Dubai Pool 1 U-14’s table, there is a fascinating battle playing out among the teams vying to make the business end of the tournament.
The top four teams met at The Sevens on Saturday, with Salman Farsi School knocking previously unbeaten league leaders Wellington International School off the top and positioning themselves in one of the coveted top two positions following a narrow 1-0 win.
Amirabbas Mohammadi netted the all-important goal in a game head coach Mohammad Rahmatollah said his team had treated like their final.
“Today’s win was a do or die game. We took this as a final game and we won 1-0 so it was great,” he said.
Ribhav Bhatt scored a brace as GEMS Modern Academy beat GEMS Our Own Indian School 3-1 which saw them leap from fifth to third. The win puts them in contention to emerge from Dubai Pool 2, something Bhatt didn’t think possible at the start of the competition.
“We’re pushing on, which we didn’t think would happen when the competition started,” said the two-goal hero.
