The Special Olympics International Football Championship 2019 (SOIFC 2019) got off to a rollicking start in Chennai, on Saturday (August 04, 2019) with the completion of the preliminary round of fixtures in Group A to C for the Men’s team and A to B for the Women’s team.

The fifteen matches produced 82 goals and some impressive individual performances, with only three teams failing the find the back of the net in their opening round matches. The 9:30am start Sunday morning meant players were well-rested and raring to go with most teams getting to play their first game.

Some resounding results and some close encounter

The first half of the day saw many one-sided affairs and close encounters with SO Bharat, SO Russia, SO Philippines – winning their opening game in an emphatic fashion as they thrashed SO Malaysia, SO Maldives and SO UAE – 4-0, 16-0, 4-0 in the Women’s game respectively. SO Bangladesh Women v SO Indonesia Women game was rather exciting with Marita Ariyani and Jumi Yuliatun scoring a quick-fire to give SO Bangladesh Women 2-0 at the half-time. While the goal from Novia Tyia gave SO Indonesia a fighting chance but alas they went down 2-1.

In the Men’s game, SO Austria beat SO Myanmar 1-0, SO Malaysia flexed their muscle, winning 2-0 against SO Bangladesh while there was no joy for the SO Bharat 2 Men’s team though as they got drubbed 7-0 at the hands of SO South Korea, with their No 10, Moon Injag and No.13 Kim ji Won scored two goals each. SO South Korea wrapped it up with an empathic 7-0 win over SO Bharat 2

Red-hot Russia continues strolling seamlessly as goals flowed on the second half of the day

The second half of the day opened up a plethora of goals with SO Bharat 1 starting off with a two-nil victory over SO Egypt Men’s team, followed by SO Malaysia wrapping up another emphatic 10-0 victory against SO Myanmar. The game between SO Austria and SO Bangladesh would be the perfectly pitted game of the day with both teams playing attacking football and forcing errors from the opposition. The game saw both teams leading and equalizing and great goals from Captain Niloy Birwar proved just too strong for SO Bangladesh ending the game with 3-2.

It's raining goals here in Chennai at the Marina arena!⚽️⚽️⚽️

SO Malaysia put 10 past SO Myanmar, meanwhile SO Russian Female team set the stage on fire with yet another dominant performance scoring 15 goals over SO Malaysia. #SOIFC2019 pic.twitter.com/TtnOekwaOp

— Special Olympics IFC 2019 (@soifc2019) August 4, 2019

Having lost their opener 7-0 to SO South Korea, came back well to snatch a 1-1 draw against SO Maldives. In the Women’s game, SO Bharat Women’s team started off from where they left off in the morning with yet another dominating performance,  securing another 4-0 victory against SO Maldives. Then, SO Russia Women’s team showed why they are one of the tournament favorites with a plethora of goals on each half of the game against SO Malaysia Women’s team. Jendohave Aine started the party, and the Korochevea Kristina scored early and often on route to a magnificent 15-0 final scoreline. Jendohave scored six in the game, but the star performer of the day was Korochevea, who added four more along with her already stunning 10-goal performance in the morning, saw her extending her tally as the top scorer of the tournament with 14-goals so far.

A thrilling end to Day-1

As the day went on the games started to settle with predictable scores that saw three consecutive draws. The game between SO Bangladesh Women’s team and SO Philippines Women’s team saw the least amount of action ending in 0-0 scoreline, followed by SO Indonesia Women’s team battling 1-1 draw against SO UAE Women’s team The final game of the day was played between SO Egypt and SO Indonesia. This match was the perfect match to end it day watching, as the two teams gave it their maximum effort. It was anyone's game, but as it turns out, it was SO Egypt day to shine, victorious with a 3-2 victory over their contender.

SO Egypt showed true character and much-improved performance after 2-0 defeat against SO Bharat and we hope they come back with better performance for the rest of the tournament. It leaves everything perfectly poised for a scintillating second day of action, which will see the culmination of the groups vying to finish first in their respective groups and ultimately winning the title.