Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations

A big event in Vilankulo

Greetings! We missed out on October’s newsletters, which is disgraceful, but we have exciting news about the end of October to share. Last week, the Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations was held here in Vilankulo!

This was a huge event for which the town has been preparing for a while. The roads were fixed, potholes filled, and a stadium built up with beach sand and bleachers where spectators could watch the games.

There were also stands selling items from different countries in front of the stadium.

Here the sand field is prepped for the next game, the sand smoothed out.

The Mozambique president, Filipe Nyusi, flew in to welcome the event, as did beach soccer teams from seven countries: Mozambique (of course), Malawi, Uganda, Senegal, Egypt, Madagascar, and Morocco. Before the matches began, there were a series of cultural celebrations and events as well as Nyusi’s welcome speech, which we unfortunately missed as we were busy with canoes, horses, and teaching. However, we were lucky enough to go and see the final game, held between Egypt and Senegal.

Egypt is in white, Senegal in green and yellow.

It was a close match. The game is played with 12 minute thirds, each with a break in between. In the first third, Senegal scored one goal, but the rest of that third was uneventful, with each team evenly matched and fighting hard. In the second third, Egypt rapidly caught up with two goals in quick succession (one an own goal from Senegal!), and it looked like they were going to stand in the lead. Then, near the end of the final third, Senegal scored again, leaving the score a tie. After a quick break, the teams went into 3 intense minutes of overtime play with no scoring, resulting still in a 2-2 tie. Another break was held, and then onto penalties.

An amazing save caught on camera by our friend Lina.

We had a very good seat directly behind the goal they used for the penalties. Both teams were strong, making each goal, until finally, Egypt missed one. Senegal ended up taking the win. There was celebration all around (except for the Egypt fans) and parties all night throughout Vilankulo.

Here is our soccer-playing dugong mascot of the Bazaruto Archipelago.

It was very exciting to have this tournament held here in Vilankulo, as we haven’t had any other comparable sporting events (at least since I have lived here). The town did an exceptional job of preparing for the games, clearing up the roads and putting up the stadium. Being able to watch the different countries’ teams playing was amazing, and everyone was in a festive, happy mood. What a fun way to end the month of October!