Football

Christian Currie of Australia makes an acrobatic save

Natalia Mikhaylova of Russia who saved a penalty in the final

Nervous Germany at the semi final penalty shoot out

1st World Deaf Football Championships

Earlier this month, the first World Deaf Football Championships were held in Patras, Greece.  Almost every day the sun shone down to the players with the temperature rising up to 40 degrees (Celsius).

Women:

The Women competition was contested by England, Germany, Greece, Russia and South Africa.  As it was a first time international level competition experience for Greece and South Africa, they fought as hard as they could in this competition. They vow to come back stronger in 2012 with the experience gained from this Championship.

In the semi finals, England found themselves 2-0 up against Russia with about 20 minutes to go only for Russia to fight back to 2-2 to take it to extra time.  Svetlana Gagarina was the hero for Russia, scoring a hat trick to make it 4-2 for Russia.

In the final, despite the early kick off (09:00hrs), it was still around 38 degrees Celsius and both Germany and Russia both contested well to make it a hard fought final.  The German Zeigler sisters were inspirational for Germany, especially Stephanie who was also at the World Deaf Futsal Championships winning the gold medal for Germany (and won the Golden Boot). 

Natalia Mikhaylova of Russia saved a penalty for Russia with an excellent diving save. This inspired Russia to win the final in extra time with the only goal coming from Tatyana Bol’shakova.

Men:

The Men competition got off to a disappointing start with Malaysia withdrawing from the Championships with only three weeks to go.  A late replacement was sought around the world but time was against us.

Group A: Greece, Germany, England
Group B: Ukraine, Ireland, Italy, Venezuela
Group C: Russia, Turkey, Australia, Thailand
Group D: Netherlands, France, China, United States

France, Germany, Ireland and Russia all made early impressions to be serious contenders to be crowned World Champions with impressive victories.  I witnessed one of the most exciting matches in my life, between Thailand and Turkey.  Thailand went 1-0 up in the 28th minute only to be reduced to 10 men, five minutes later, after a red card was shown for deliberate handball.

You would have thought that Thailand would have defended deeply to protect their slim lead until half time.  Wrong!  Turkey and Thailand continued to attack each other; Turkey after that all-important equaliser while Thailand hunted for that second killer goal and the football to watch was a real delight for the neutral eyes.

In the second half, the same pattern continued with the fearless Thais still going for goal.  Against the run of play, Turkey equalised and Thailand, having used all three of their substitutes, was reduced to nine men after one of their players was carried off to hospital with a serious injury.

Surely Thailand would now pack their defence and protect their precious point with about 25 minutes to go.  Wrong again!  Thailand continued to bomb Turkey’s goal and Turkey looked dangerous on the counterattack.  With minutes ticking away, the impossible happened with Turkey going 2-1 ahead.  At this moment the fourth official signalled there would be five minutes injury time (in account of all six substitutes coming on and the serious injury that resulted in an ambulance coming on the pitch) and Turkey scored with the last kick of the match much to Thailand’s disappointment.  What a great advert for football that was.  This kind of attitude continued throughout the Championships from most of the teams who wanted to bring goals, goals, goals to the Championships.  And they did not fail.

Marc Christ scored two goals against England on his 20th birthday to record a 3-0 win for Germany.  Ukraine beat Ireland 4-1 in their final group match but Ireland went through on having scored more goals.  France, Germany and Turkey were the only teams that progressed to the quarter finals without defeat.

In the quarter finals, Germany defeated Russia 2-0, France overcame Ireland 2-1 after extra time and United States progressed to the semi finals on penalties against Italy.  In the final quarter final between Greece and Turkey, the game was destined for penalties with the score at 1-1.  In the 117th minute, a Greek player, who had only come on the pitch as a substitute just a few minutes ago, took off his hearing aids and threw them to the substitutes bench.  Obviously, it was a honest mistake coming on the pitch wearing hearing aids but it is still in the regulations (9.7) that “the use of hearing aids or external cochlear implant aids is strictly forbidden during the time of match. In case of offence, the match shall immediately be stopped and the offending team shall lose by 3-0.” So it was very unfortunate that Turkey was awarded the match 3-0 because both teams had played well and it was evenly balanced as to who would win.

In the semi finals, Germany went 2-0 up in the first five minutes of extra time only for France to equalise with a spirited fight back.  A similar pattern happened in the penalty shoot out with Germany’s first two penalties being saved but just somehow, Thomas Hafner saved two penalties for Germany to bring it to 3-3 – sudden death!  Germany won in the end on penalties 7-6 and it was a cruel blow to France who had played with passion, integrity and fairplay.

In the other semi finals, United States and Turkey contested a hard fought match with no goals coming in 120 minutes of play.  Turkey kept their cool to win the penalty shootout 4-2.

The final was something else to remember.  A close friend of mine said to me before the final that he had witnessed several deaf international finals and always found them disappointing or an anti climax.  He could not have been more wrong!

Germany went ahead early with a Kadir Tatar goal in the 4t minute.  Turkey and Germany both performed well throughout the first half, which brought an equaliser just before half time with a goal from Huseyin Er.  In the second half, Germany quickly scored again to make it 2-1, thanks to Daniel Jaglar only for Huseyin’s twin brother Hasan Er to make it 2-2 before the final whistle.

In extra time, the pace continued to be fast and the passing was technically exceptional.  Turkey won a penalty in the first half extra time and Huseyin Er coolly converted to put Turkey ahead for the first time in the final.  Germany pressed on for the equaliser and came close a couple of times.  In the final minute, Germany won a free kick, 30 yards away from Turkey’s goal.  Apart from Edris Saighani who was about to take the free kick, all the German players including their goalkeeper Hafner was in the Turkey’s penalty area.

Saighani unleashed an unforgettable screamer to bury the ball in the top right hand corner to take the final to penalties with the very last kick of the match.  Germany converted all five of their penalties (5-3) to become World Champions.

The whole Championship was a huge success for all 20 teams involved.  The only disappointment that arose was the Organising Committee who did not prepare properly for the Championships that caused a lot of chaos and unwanted stress on the countries involved.

My biggest gratitude goes to Mr. Josef Willmerdinger, the ICSD Sports Director and my good friend for his support and tireless work in working together to ensure the Championship was a success on and off the field.  Without Josef’s invaluable contribution and support, it would have been hard to imagine how some of the issues that arose during the Championship would have ever got resolved.

I also thank Dr. Donalda Ammons, our ICSD President, for her support and invaluable advice/feedback, which I shall take on board in making changes for the 2009 Summer Deaflympics Football Tournament and 2012 World Deaf Football Championships.

A special thank you goes to Mr. Theodore Staroyiannis, the OC Vice-President A', for his tireless work sorting the chaos at the beginning of the Championships.  Theodore was always around whenever needed and helped a lot of people with his patience and clarification of the issues.

I also would like to thank Mr. Athanasios Chiohalis, the OC Technical Director who worked tirelessly and also learnt a lot about the deaf community during his hands-on experience of the Championships.

I will never forget Roxanna, Dionysia, Sofia and Maria who were the interpreters for the Championships and they all went beyond their duty, in assisting with other problems and going to hospital with several players.  A big thank you to the four lovely ladies.

Last but not least, a big thank you to Eleni Rinisti and her team of volunteers who did a fantastic job throughout the Championships.  They all worked tirelessly and suffered a few incidents from the frustrated players and staff when things went wrong due to the OC’s ineffectiveness and yet continued to work without complaint until the very last minute.  They were a real credit to the Championships.

Next stop: Summer Deaflympics Football Championships, Taipei, September 2009.

Yours in football

Christof NIKLAUS
ICSD Technical Director - Football