Recap of Patrick Haney World Cup Finals

Two ferocious teams, one old and the other young. Fourteen passionate players, seven assumably over their 40s, and seven gritty high schoolers. A shared energetic, hard-working, and fun-loving buzzing atmosphere… but only one cup…

On Wednesday, May 23, 2019, the annual Patrick Haney World Cup took place. After a couple of weeks of competitive games, Western Sahara and the Faculty team advanced to the finals. The score was 2-1 to the resilient Western Sahara team. Some say it was close, other’s say it wasn’t at all, nonetheless on that fateful day, team Western Sahara proudly carried that trophy home… for the night. But one must understand, these teams were curated through individual choice, so players couldn’t really depend on team chemistry. Assuming that’s true, then how did both teams function and play their way to the finals?

According to Thomas Bulow (11), an incredible varsity footballer, “the main thing that helped us win was playing together and having fun… Teamwork was essential, even though the chemistry wasn’t at it’s fullest. Our players had fun, but at the same time worked hard to get to the chance to hold that cup over their heads.” Being that the team was already made up of talented players, winning, was bound to happen. The way the great Amani Kaiya (10) blatantly put it I think embodied the whole team spirit: “Our success was the result of unplanned and unintended dominance!” Now with that attitude, how could they not beat those silly teachers?

Over the course of the tournament “our team chemistry improved substantially, and I think the last game proved again, what we were made of, ” said Thomas. “Teamwork definitely played a crucial role in our victory,” commented Amani, and that the victories they earned “couldn’t be accomplished by one individual” and by watching parts of the game, I concur with this notion, and how Amani rightfully put it, the team was “nothing less than phenomenal”, and I couldn’t agree more.

Now onto the teachers. Woohoo!

Personally, one of my favorite players on the pitch, Mr. Davy, said how team chemistry got better over time and “considering that there were many different levels of play,” the team played superbly. When asked about who stood out on the team it was a no-brainer. Of course, it was the Eygiptian wonder: Ahmed Ezzat. While his football abilities were exemplary, he knew he couldn’t dribble the whole team. So in order to be successful, he needed the support of his team and Mr. Davy believes that they certainly delivered.

But at the end of the day, this is football; teams win and lose, however, as cliche as it is, people truly did have fun, and that’s really all that matters in tournaments like this.