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The first telling pass of the game saw Richard get onto the end of a lovely through ball, but he was ruled offside. Moments later, it was Yanick, finding paddocks of space on the wing who put in a gorgeous cross. It should have been buried by the Congolese youngster, Freddy, but he skied his shot over the bar.
It was all New Congo in the first five minutes with Yanick causing real problems for Sudan’s left back.
Sudan had their first meaningful drive ten minutes into the game, with a lovely ball to Antony who was immediately swamped by three New Congo defenders but nevertheless managed to squeeze out a pass to his winger who put his powerful effort wide. This lifted their spirits and their number ten followed up with a tricky, floating shot a few minutes later that was brilliantly tipped over the bar by the New Congo keeper Rachid.
And just as Sudan started working their way into the game, a lovely break by Yanick once again, found it’s way to Mude who executed a lovely little pull back and shot low and inside the left post. 1-0 to New Congo and the crowd ran onto the pitch rapturously.
Minutes after the restart, having finally cleared all the fans off the pitch, Yanick cut inside two defenders and shot powerfully in off the cross bar. The keeper couldn’t do anything about it. 2-0 to New Congo just before half-time and another pitch invasion ensued.
Sudan, who looked a little disconsolate at the break, came out strong, working the ball around with a bit of purpose but, once again, on the counter, a through ball to Richard was clinically dispatched for a goal. The fans made their usual pitch invasion but Sudan’s players complained that he was offside, and after consulting the linesman, the goal was, indeed, ruled offside.
This was only a momentary respite for Team Sudan, however, as that man, Yanick, once again started a move down the right, passed inside to Richard who appeared to push out a defender as he squared to Mude. The striker then finished with an almost carbon-copy replica of his first goal – a pull back and a low shot inside the left post. 3-0 to New Congo.
New Congo were in full stride after that, playing their best football of the tournament and working the ball around with confidence. Their fourth came five minutes later when Blaise beat the offside trap, made a long run down the pitch and finished with aplomb. He then scored arguably the goal of the tournament with a stunning scissor kick over the charging keeper from a move that started down the left. 5-0 to New Congo and the celebrations were well and truly under way for the large crowd.
2 goals from Blaise, 2 goals from Mude and 1 goal from man of the match, Yanick.
Sudan were brave but a bit overawed by the occasion. After the match their star striker, Antony, admitted that they were lucky to even make it to the final – having beaten a much stronger Kingali outfit on penalties in the Semi. But he was, nevertheless, very proud of their efforts and thrilled that he could give his fellow teammates such joy over the four days. As for New Congo, they seemed to get better with every match and definitely benefited from a very large and vocal supporter base who cheered their every move.
