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This past weekend during the quarter finals for the 5th Annual African Advisory Counsel (AAC) Soccer Tournament Guinea and Burkina Faso were victorious over their opponents and will face each other on Saturday for the final game.
The tournament started in April with 20 teams playing on both Saturday and Sunday at Macomb Dam Park in the Bronx across from Yankee Stadium. In the final games on Sunday to determine who will make it to the finals Burkina Faso faced Zimbabwe. They gained the victory over them with a final score of 2-1.
Besides skill and ability Mahamoudou N. Micke, Burkina Faso’s president of sports and social activities, contributes his team’s success this far to “watching and analyzing” the other teams that were playing. The team put in a lot of practice and preparation to make it to the finals this year. Guinea’s new coach may be the hidden gem of their success.
Alpha Jalloh is the new head coach for Guinea, and his transition from a player to the coach was easy after taking the place of their former coach who no longer had time in his schedule. In that short time last year they made it to the semi-finals and this year they’re heading into the finals after beating last year’s winning team- Ghana.
Ghana’s team is known for having players that are mature, but Guinea’s youthful players, most under 30 years old, were able to pull out the victory over them with a score of 1-0. “I have a lot of respect for them, they won the championship last year. It makes me really feel good to beat them,” said Jalloh.
“We lost to a good team,” said Baffour Acheampong, head coach for Ghana, his voice hoarse from coaching the team. “You win some you lose some, it is what it is. We did the best that we could.”
In the end only one will walk away with bragging rights for the year as the champions. Also, in honor of the kidnapped girls in Nigeria the AAC will have a silent march around the field at Macomb Dam Park before the game at 1:30 p.m.. Everyone is welcomed to join them. Participants in the tournament will also be walking in the Bronx Week parade on Sunday, including the winners.