Outsiders claim cup

By LARRY ANDREW
Lae’s festive season soccer tournament, the Wawens Cup, ended on Monday with teams from outside the city winning two of the three finals.
In the Under-17 grand final, Ramu Eagles caned Ahi United 3-0 in the penalty shootout while MadWest from Madang beat City United of Lae 4-3 in the senior men’s grand final in similar fashion.
Defending champions Prima Power had too much energy to overcome Bara FC 1-0 in the women’s grand final.
The game between Madwest and City United had supporters on the edge of their seats. Both teams put on an entertaining game but could not score goals in regular time.
The match went down to the wire and had to go into extra time but at the end no winner was declared. The penalty shootout had both teams tied on 3-3 using the first top five kickers and MadWest eventually won 4-3 through their sixth player.
MadWest goalkeeper Graham Barigami saved the day for his team when he deflected City’s seventh player Joshua Oscar’s kick.
Elder Samuel Kime told The National that MadWest was made up of players from Madang and the West Taraka suburb of Lae.
Kime said the players from Madang were actually boys from West Taraka now residing in Madang.
“They came up and join their brothers here and we came up with the name MadWest. This is our first time to take part in the Wawens Cup tournament and we were put under pressure. But I told the boys to hold their faith and play according to the game plan,” Kime said.
“We have come against tough opponents to make it into the final and I am thankful to the boys for winning the cup.”
All teams that made it into the top four in each division received trophies and cash prizes.
Wawens Cup patron Andrew Namuesh said around K15,000 was spent to host the tournament.
Namuesh said the tournament was all about gathering young people together and keeping them out from trouble during the festive season.