Day 5 at the Homeless World Cup in Cardiff 2019
|Image: Mile44
Men’s Competition:
Stage 2 in the Men’s Competition continued today with some cracking matches. Groups A to D saw Mexico, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Portugal, and Russia, topping their group respectively.
Host team Wales are currently on third place in Group C with three points, putting them on the path to qualify for the second-tier trophy.
The end of tomorrow will conclude Stage 2, and teams will be placed in their final trophy competitions. Quarter and semi-finals will take place on Friday.
Women’s Competition:
Stage 2 in the women’s competition, with Mexico and Peru; Romania and Chile; Wales and Netherlands; and USA and SFU, topping their groups respectively.
The host team, Wales, is not set to compete for the second-tier trophy.
Stage 2 will conclude tomorrow. With quarter and semi-finals taking place on Friday.
For the full results from DAY FIVE visit the Homeless World Cup website:
Daily live streams are also available on HWC YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and the HWC website.
Some stories from the Homeless World Cup website – Day 5
“Nobody in the team knew each other before they came together here”
“The first time we put on the jersey it was so strange but a good feeling, like I’m doing something important. It’s so nice being part of the team. If you score the goal it’s not just you, it’s everyone. We are the family right now. And we are in the Cardiff City jersey—you never know what will happen!”
Johana Cardoza raises her gaze to the blue skies over Bute Park and absent-mindedly touches the tattoo on her right forearm—the word Familia with a cardiogram graphic—all she has to remind her of her birthplace. Then she grins, a huge, all-encompassing smile that belies her journey of the last four years.
A member of the all-female Street Football United (SFU) team, who hails from Colombia, is playing alongside other refugees and asylum seekers bound by the common thread of temporary statelessness….
Click here to read the full story.
“Wearing the Poland top here has been the most beautiful thing in my life”
While Team Poland have shown a real ability to find the net during their matches here in Cardiff at the Homeless World Cup, their performances have also been marked by their fair play.
And that was evidenced with the team receiving a FIFPRO Fair Play Award for their sportsmanship and camaraderie on the pitch while taking on Greece in the tournament.
Among their squad this year is Bartlomiej Partyka. Hailing from Kielce in south central Poland, the 25-year-old shared his sensations in representing his country and the effect that has had on him.
“Wearing the Poland top here has been the most beautiful thing in my life. The eagle on the badge, I have it in my heart. I have goosebumps just talking about it. I feel like a ‘wojownik’, a warrior,” he said…
Click here to read the full story.
Welcome, Côte d’Ivoire!
Welcome, Côte d’Ivoire! After a tricky visa process, a delayed DHL delivery, a missed flight, and a 15-hour journey, the Ivory Coast team arrived in Cardiff. Needless to say, the West African street soccer team’s journey hasn’t been without its hitches. But, having only arrived 24 hours ago and with only one game in, the team are kicking, passing, saving, and scoring with already 16 goals bagged.
Geographical and bureaucratic journeys aside, the team’s 17-year-old player Richard Kone from Abidjan generously shared a bit more about his own past, present, and future football journey.
“I have been playing football since a young child. Football is my passion. I just love to play. I don’t think of much else but football at the moment. I think it has helped me to become a bigger person and it has given me the opportunity to travel abroad: first time on a plane and first time abroad for me.
“I was living on the street because I had some problems with my parents because I am homosexual. A friend of mine introduced me to the president of the street soccer association (Don’t Forget Them Association) in Ivory Coast. They said to me if I trained every day and worked hard I would be accepted into the programme and potentially selected to come to the Homeless World Cup.”
Click here to read the full story.
“It’s great to go full circle”
For this year’s local referees, being a part of the Homeless World Cup in their home country has brought the tournament even closer to their hearts and deeper into their lives. Five of the Welsh referees participated in past tournaments as players, and all are united in their common love for both Wales and football.
Paul Nagtegaal, a KNVB referee and the head of the Homeless World Cup referee training course, is impressed with the group.
“They found confidence through teamwork, and now they are part of the referee family. This week, you can see them continue to develop that confidence. They were a bit nervous at the beginning, but now they’re starting to want more games as they get more excited to do them. It’s great to see, and everyone supports everyone.”
With mental health a key issue among the group and throughout Wales, football has proven to be a gateway to positive change…
Click here to read the full story.
From keepy-ups at traffic lights to starring for Chile in Cardiff
Picture the scene: On a main road in the coastal town of Quintero in Chile, the lights go red and the cars of locals on their travels from A to B stop at the traffic lights. From the pavement appears a teenage girl, ball in hand, who lets the ball drop and starts doing keepy-ups.
She’s doing so to entertain motorists for a brief second as the drivers await the green light to continue on. And she’s doing it out of necessity to earn some money for her and her family.
Money to buy boots, money to travel to train, and money to help a family who are struggling as they try to support the girl and her four brothers and sisters.
Cut to a decade later, and that girl is between the goalposts for Chile Women’s team as they take on hosts Wales at the Homeless World Cup in the leafy surroundings of Bute Park—more than 11,000km away from that busy street and those traffic lights.