On Thursday the 15th November 2012, the SBC Students Football Team won a landslide victory (5-0 against a team from Energy & Power Engineering College of USST) in the finals of the 29th USST 7 A-Side Football Tournament. Tao Minghui, attacking midfielder from the Division of Business Management, won the award for Footballer of the tournament.
The SBC Team quickly became one of the Championship favourites after finishing undefeated at the top of their qualifying group. The team scored 17 goals over three matches in the group phase, showing their prowess up front. Of these 17 goals, Tao Minghui (Tao), majoring in Business Management, netted 6; Mao Lianrui (Mao), majoring in Accounting & Finance, also bagged 5 of his own; Tugrul from Turkey, majoring in Engineering, scored 4. Gabriel from Angola, majoring in Engineering and Lancio, also from Angola, majoring in Accounting & Finance, grabbed one goal a piece.
During the second half of the quarter-finals, Gabriel scored the winning goal for the SBC Student Team, with the assist coming from Mao. This allowed our student team to enter the semi-finals with a 1-0 victory over the Medical College of USST. In the semis, the SBC team faced a team from the Mechanical College of USST, the hosts and a strong opponent to boot. It was a tough match, with the SBC team conceding a goal early in the game. With several refereeing decisions not going the SBC team’s way, it proved increasingly difficult to press forward and create opportunities. However, the whole team showed great resolve, standing up to the pressure, playing safe, creating every opportunity to score an equalizer. After much persistence, Tugrul scored an equalizer to save the team from elimination. A neck and neck battle ensued with the opposing team, taking the game through to a penalty shoot-out. Rewarded for their efforts, the SBC triumphed 4-3 in the penalty shoot-out and entered the finals of the tournament.
The final turned out to be more a one-sided game instead of a showdown between players at the top of their game. The SBC team scored first, right at the beginning of the game, through a flowing combination between the players. Chen Cheng, defender for the SBC team, won back possession in SBC’s half of the pitch, passing on quickly to Tao, the attacking midfielder. Then Tao passed on to Mao across the half-way line. Mao passed on directly to Tugrul, the striker now was surging to the edge of the opponent’s penalty area. Tugrul controlled the ball, shirked off two opposing defenders and scored, completing a wonderful counterattacking move. In the final, Tugrul bagged a hat-trick. Tao and Mao also scored one goal a piece. Throughout the knockout stages, the SBC team scored 7 goals, only conceding 1. The team merit the title of perfect champions playing total football.
David Cockayne, management of the SBC team and teacher of Events Management, said “Wining any competition is always a proud moment for any sports team but this one is particularly special. When I came to SBC in 2009 we didn’t even have footballs, anywhere to play, let alone a team! Four years later we have built the best footballing team amongst USST’s 12 colleges, a team that not only won the competition, but won it in emphatic style – 5-0. A hat-trick, and four assists from our international players and two goals from our Chinese players, one of which from the team captain, shows exactly what SBC as a college is all about!”
