E3Spirit Cup 2018
Hermanozinhos Edged Gradteam and Sealed the Vital Victory
After a competitive tie with Gradteam, Hermanozinhos finally scraped a narrow win by two points in the penalty shoot-out and sealed the victory in the finals of the 7th E3Spirit Cup!
E3 Spirit Cup is an annual football tournament organized by the NTU EEE Alumni Association (EEEAA), and it is dedicated to gathering all EEE alumni, students and staffs to reconnect with old and new EEE friends, and to work out & enjoy the beautiful game. This year, this event hit its 7th run and was once again successfully held in Nanyang Technological University’s main sports field, featuring with a spectacular view given by NTU’s new Sports and Recreation Center, The Wave, from behind.
In this very special day, a beautiful weather appeared with the clouds shading the sun and breezes passing through the field. At 8:30 am, the event officially began. When the twelve teams gathered by the registration desk in front of The Wave, it’s hard for us not to marvel at NTU EEE’s true diversity. There are so many different faces with different nationalities participating. PaPaPa – the EEEAA E3Spirt Cup 2017 champion, a team of Singaporeans and Chinese, showed up with confidence. VNNTU was a group of enthusiastic undergraduates from Vietnam who were ready to demonstrate their superb skills. GST-B and Grad team were a mixing of Indians and Turkish graduate students who have been passionate about footballs for years. There are also Nepalese, Brazilian, Argentinian, Italians and many more other nationalities. Surprisingly, this great event also attracted students and staffs from other schools, MAE, MSE people came to join their EEE friends to make this great event happen. All this remarkable diversity brought the tournament to another level of excitement even before the qualification round kick-started.
After registration, the President of EEEAA announced the opening of this event. The players’ determination to win was vividly captured in an exciting group photo supported by the newest drone technology. After the captains drew the group number, the rival sequences were clear. Only the finest team in skills and luck would be able to go through all the rounds and kiss the glorious trophy. At 9:30 am, the teams flocked into the court and eagerly started the qualification round. All the teams were busy warming up, well-prepared and confident of their win.
In the qualification round, all twelve teams were divided into four groups, each on a Round Robin match schedule. With up-beat music blasting from the spectators stand, players put in their utmost effort to make their teams proud. At the same time, our alumni and student organizers were busy watching and calculating the small points to decide the winning teams. Around 10:30 am, the list was out. While enjoying the light refreshments prepared by EEEAA, Adi and Daviel from team Poacher told the reporter: “it was fun and very competitive. Even though we didn’t make our way to the quarters, we will definitely come back the next year!”
Around 11:15 am, the list for the semi-final came out: A1-PaPaPa, B3-VNNTU, C2-Herminozinhos and D1-Gradteam. Nearly two hours of harsh contending did not put their spirit to rest. Instead, everyone was even more determined and inspired to win! However, some dark clouds brought light drizzles to the court when the semi-final started. Luckily, it did not last long. Soon after, bright sun shined across the court again when the final was announced between two great teams: Gradteam and Hermanozinhos.
Nearly everyone in the field flocked out and circled around the court, not to miss a single second of the final match! Gradteam and Hermanozinhos were no doubt the greatest rivals on the field. Each side demonstrated their superb skills in passing and dribbling, but they could not score a single goal under their competitor’s great defense. When the main round finished with a tie, the referee announced the penalty shoot-out. This time, the luck favoured Hermanozinhos. Their goal keeper successfully defended two scores out of five, wining their team the new Champion of E3Spirit Cup 2018! Everyone in the team burst with joy and tears!
Eze from Hermanozinhos said to the reporter; “Hermanozinhos literally means ‘of the brothers’. We’ve been playing for a few years but always came with the second place. I am so glad that even though we are from six different countries, we fought together like real brothers and finally emerged as Champions!”
All audiences in the field were so impressed by the tournament and no one hesitated to applaud the teams who truly demonstrated the teamwork and wining spirit of this great event. Isn’t it too short? So, shall we see each other again in the 8th E3Spirt Cup in 2019?
(written by Haoxin Xu)