CISM 2nd World Football Cup – Muscat (OMA)
Opening Ceremony and first game of the competition
MUSCAT (OMA) – The 2nd CISM World Football Cup started today in Muscat, the capital of the Sultanate of Oman. Organized under the leadership of his Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, Supreme Commander of the Oman Armed Forces, this CISM competition is one of the main events of the CISM 2017 Sports calendar and gathers for 14 days the football teams of the sixteen qualified teams: Oman, Guinea, Bahrain, France, Algeria, Germany, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Ireland, Mali, Qatar, the USA, Egypt, Poland, Canada and Syria. Three different venues will host the 32 games of the tournament: the Stadium Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex (30000 seats), the Seeb Sports Stadium (13400 seats) and the Police Sports Stadium (12000 seats).
This major event started yesterday with the usual preliminary meeting and technical meeting. Those meetings were led by Brigadier-General Aboubacar Biro Condé (GUI), CISM OCR and Member of the BoD, Captain Rudi Fell (GER), CISM Football PCSC, Lieutenant-Colonel Khalid Ali Al-Jabri, Chief of Oman Organizing Committee and Major Ahmed Mussalam (UAE), Head Referee of the event.
After the welcome speech of the CISM OCR Brigadier-General Aboubacar Biro Condé, the delegations received important information about the organization of the tournament, the schedules of the competition and trainings, the opening and closing ceremonies, the anti-doping procedures…
The 2nd CISM World Football Cup started officially today with the Opening Ceremony and the first game of the tournament. The Opening Ceremony took place in the magnificent Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in presence of Colonel Abdulhakeem Alshino (BRN) - CISM President, Colonel Dorah Mamby Koita (GUI) - CISM Secretary General, Brigadier-General Aboubacar Biro Condé (GUI), Captain Rudi Fell (GER), Colonel Abdulraheem Bello (NGR) - CISM 2nd World Football Cup Project Manager, His Highness Sayyid Shihab Bin Tariq Al-Said - Advisor to His Majesty the Sultan, Lieutenant General PSC Ahmed bin Harith bin Nasser Al Nabhani - Chief of Staff of the Sultan's Armed Forces and Chief of the Organizing Committee, Lieutenant-Colonel Khalid Al Jabri, several Highnesses and Excellencies, the commanders of the Sultan Armed Forces and other military and security services, senior officials, Heads of Delegations of the participating countries, a number of senior officers of military and security services, heads of sport federations in the Sultanate and a wide audience of football fans.
The Opening Ceremony started with the Oman National Anthem and the entry of the delegations on the main stage. After the speech of Lieutenant-Colonel Khalid Al Jabri, the CISM President took the floor to thank the Oman delegation for their hard work and the organization of this major event and emphasized the fact that this event would highlight the place of Oman on the Military Sport world map. As the CISM anthem was played, the CISM flags and the Organizing Committee flag were then raised and His Highness Sayyid Shihab Bin Tariq Al-Said declared the tournament officially open!
As a conclusion of the Opening Ceremony, the spectators could attend artistic performances such as a Silent Parade, two Omani folk dance shows(Razha / Mudema and Tanbura / Al-Barah) and a drum Show.
Serious matters started right after the Opening Ceremony with the first game of the tournament as the host country Oman faced Guinea in the Group A, also composed of France and Bahrain! And it was quite a disappointment for Guinea. Despite keeping pace with Oman during the first 20 minutes of the games, Guinea conceded a penalty kick and Oman n°9 Adbulaziz Humid lost no time to convert it. As Oman proved its superiority during the next 25 minutes, the half time was blown and Oman walked back to the locker room with a 1-0 lead. The second period of the game started, the Omani players maintained the pressure Guinean team and their efforts paid off relatively fast as Abdulaziz Humid managed to score a second goal (55’’). The rest of the game was a healthy walk for Oman as they scored three other goals via Mohammed Salih (59’’) and Mohemmed Teqi (62’’ and 67’’).
Oman could even have added a few more goals as they let pass a few glorious scoring chances in the second half! With this impressive victory, Oman is now ranked first before the other game of the Group A between France and Bahrain tomorrow at 17.00 local time in the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex. The 2 games of the group B will take place tomorrow in the Seeb Sports Stadium: Algeria will face Germany a 17.00 local time while the Islamic Republic of Iran will be confronted to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea at 20.00 local time.
For more information, please visit the official website of the 2nd CISM World Football Cup Organizing Committee www.cismoman2017.om or their official facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/cismoman.2017?fref=ts.
(Source: CISM Media & Communication Department)
(Pictures: Maxime Morlet, CISM Media & Communication Assitant and Photographer – Eddy Kellens, CISM Photographer - Jonathan Verhoeft, CISM Photographer)
