Aweil North clinches NBGS peace trophy
Zalan FC striker Akot Akot scored a brace to help Aweil East County thrash Aweil North County 4-0 to claim the 2022 Northern Bahr el Ghazal State inter-county peace tournament in Juba.
Akot capitalised on a counterattack, dribbling past the opponents to penetrate the defence and fire past a helpless goalkeeper in 18 minutes of play.
The game ended in a 4-0 thrashing for Aweil East County, giving them bragging rights for winning the tie of the Northern Bahr el Ghazal State inter-county peace competition in Juba.
The champions scored their second goal in the 41st minute of play through Maguat Wol to make it 2-0 at the half.
Aweil North started the second half with borrowed gear, but it only took one counterattack from the Eastern boys to demoralise the North Aweil players. Akot scored his third.
In the final 10 minutes of the game, Wol increased the score to 4-0.
“I’m ecstatic about today’s victory because it is the first in both my life and Aweil East County history. I want to thank all of the fans who came out to watch the game, especially my players,” said Santino, the coach of Aweil East. “And just want to say hard luck to Aweil North, but let them work hard for the next time.”
The head of the organising committee, Akot Deng Akot, praised God and everyone for allowing the game to end peacefully and without incident, as had been the case throughout.
He claimed that bringing locals together through such events and letting them know the capability of the people was the precise goal of the tournament in Juba.
“We also need to show the peace that people talk about in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State in Juba—that Aweil people are peaceful people, as it was witnessed in the finals of the game.
“Another objective is to make a strong team for Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, so that in case of any competition with any states in the country, we will be ready to compete and do something great for the state,” he said.
According to him, the competition cost the organisers roughly S$20 million in order to succeed.
There were six county teams that took part in the competition. Aweil East emerged the champions after beating Aweil North 4-0 in the finals.
The competition attracted thousands of football fans across the capital Juba, including top Northern Bahr el Ghazal State leaders headed by the governor, who were among those in attendance.
