Lagos fans were on Friday served the best of beach football as the 2019 COPA Lagos began with showdown among competing teams at Eko Atlantic Waterfront, Lagos Island.
Teams from Nigeria, England Brazil and Senegal and others are participating in the 8th edition of COPA Lagos.
Among the invited teams for the beach soccer fiesta are Sunset Sport Kebbi BSC, Gidi Sharks and Pepsi Academy.
In the first match of the day, Sports from Ghana defeated Kebbi Stars via penalty kick after the match ended 4-4.
In the second match, Gidi Sharks whitewashed Pepsi Academy by 7-1, the heaviest defeat so far.
The third match between Brazil and Senegal saw a great comeback as Senegal came from two goals down to defeat the Brazilian team by 5-4.
The Senegalese had their goals through Datta Jean Paul, Barry Hamoudu, Diangne Manar, Fall Babacar and Al-Seyni Ndiaye.
The Samba Boys also had their goals through, Edson Souza-Miranda, Piu Da-Silva, with a brace and Preieira Da-Silva.
The last match of the day between Nigeria and England also had festival of goals as both teams scored 10 goals in between them with Nigeria overpowering the Three Lions by 7-3.
The Super Sand Eagles Man of the Match, Emeka Ogbonna, scored a hat trick, while Godwin Zaki also scored a brace, while Clement Egan-Osi and Abolaji Abu-Azeez, contributed one goals each to complete the rout.
The Sand Three Lions, however, got their goals from David Lawson, Aaron Clarke and James Jake.
Speaking at the end of the match, Senegal’s Diallo Souza said that he was happy to have watched his team from a remarkable comeback.
“This is a win we cherish so much, the team are not relenting in spite of the early goal; they proved that they are worthy champions.
“We will be using the tournament to prepare for the World Cup,” he said.
The three goals hero, Ogbonna, said that the team was pleased with the result, adding that they had all what it took to defeat other opponents.
“We are happy to start with a win, this will motivate us to prepare better for our next match.
“It is too early to be talking about what to expect in the finals because we have other difficult matches ahead of the team,” he said.
Story Credit: NAN
