The German Men’s Beach Football Team are looking forward to face off with Nigeria this Friday in their opening match of the 3rd COPA Lagos Beach Soccer Tournament.
Head Coach, Urls Boringschulte who arrived with the 10 man German squad on Wednesday evening, looked like a coach who is quietly confident he has fine-tuned his squad to take home the title at this exciting championship tournament.
Although the German Men’s Beach Soccer Team are the only European team in the competition pundits expect that they have come ready to do their continent proud. One of the key players to watch in the team is German’s attacking midfielder, Oliver Romrig. The captain of the German team, Romrig has been the consummate leader in his team. The 31 year old is an agile player who is used to racking up top goals in each tournament he has played.
The German contingents are also joined by the other international teams, Lebanon and Senegal in the competition.
Reigning African champions, Beach Lions of Teranga of Senegal were the first team to arrive at the Muritala International Airport in Lagos on Wednesday morning. Senegalese striker Pape Jean Koukpaki is one of the key players in the competition and is one of the most important figures of the Dakar based US Ouakam.
Another player who will be exciting to watch is beach soccer star striker Haitham Fattal of Lebanon. Fattal who finished as the highest goal scorer at the Asian Beach Games with 11 goals last year, arrived with his team from Lebanon Wednesday afternoon. The team were last year runner up and will no doubt receive tremendous support from the Lebanese community in Nigeria.
Senegal and Lebanon will kick of the completion in what is expected to be a critical match on December 13.
Nigeria’s Super Sand Eagles is determined to win the coveted championship trophy and will begin the defense of her title against Germany in her opening match of the competition on Friday at the same venue in the second game.
“We will be looking to continue to do the things that we do well for our opening match against Iran on Saturday and get off to a good start”, concluded the team’s captain, Isiaka Olawale. Nigerian striker Abu Azeez of Kwara United player will be a man to watch as he was the top scorer at last year’s Copa Lagos Beach tourney.
The COPA Lagos Beach Soccer competition which is sponsored by FCMB, Eko Atlantic, Cool FM and others will be played at the Eko Atlantic from 13 to 15 December 2013, with the four top international teams playing three matches each in a manner that ensures each team plays against the other. The teams have already started their pre-match training and where seen yesterday during their practice sessions. (All kick-off times 2:00pm local time)
