ISO kicks off first-ever campus World Cup While Germany prepares for global spotlight, Midd-kids get into the spirit

Author: ZAMIR AHMED, SPORTS EDITOR

On Saturday, Dec. 3, the International Students Organization (ISO) held the first session of its inaugural Middlebury World Cup of Soccer in The Bubble of the Peterson Family Athletics Complex, bringing together students from across the world for some friendly competition. The tournament wraps up on Dec. 10, with the winning region taking home bragging rights as the Middlebury champion of the world's most popular sport.

The idea for the tournament was originated by ISO president Papa Faye '08 as one of his campaign promises while running for the office last year. "I was trying to think of fun and entertaining things for ISO, to do during the year and one morning it came to me that we should have a soccer tournament," said Faye.

The tournament was originally conceived as just one event during a week-long, Olympiad-style competition for the ISO, which was to feature a number of different sports that members could compete in. However, after failing to garner enough support from members, the idea was scratched and the World Cup was born.

The organization also faced another hurdle in putting on the games earlier in the year because of Mother Nature. The tournament was originally scheduled to be played on the intramural soccer fields during the last week of October and first week of November. However, heavy rainfall during October rendered the fields unplayable and forced the postponement of the games, which were eventually moved indoors.

The games were organized by Ed Donaldson '08, head of the ISO sports committee and a member of the European squad. "We had interested students put down their country and the region they wanted to belong to and then split the teams after seeing where everyone was from," said Donaldson. "We had such a great response that we didn't need any outside publicity to get more people to sign up."

After receiving responses from almost 50 students, Donaldson created five teams according to region - Asia, the Americas, Africa/Middle East, South Asia and Europe - with some teams comprising more area to create equal-sized squads and create fair teams.

"One of the goals for the games was to bring together students from everywhere and foster cooperation in a friendly competition." said ISO Vice-President Owais Gilani '08. "By having students play on teams from other regions we really accomplished that."

The six-on-six round-robin tournament kicked off on Saturday afternoon, with three sessions of games taking place on the day. With only a limited amount of time and a number of games to play during the afternoon, the matches were shortened to 30 minutes with only a few minutes for half-time.

Despite being in fun, the first day saw plenty of high-quality action. Among the day's highlights was the first match of the day, a thrilling back-and-forth match between the Americas and South Asia, with the Americas coming out on top 5-4. Europe and Africa/Middle East closed out the day on high note, battling to a 3-3 tie that featured a last-minute goal by the Europeans to tie the game.

The tournament continues this Saturday, with only two more round-robin sessions left for teams to clinch a spot in the finals. While the format for deciding a champion has yet to be formalized, the remaining games promise to be dog-fights. "Most teams still have a shot at making it to the finals, which is something we're glad to see," said Donaldson.

Most likely, the top two teams at the end of the round-robin will advance to the finals while the third and fourth-place teams will battle for bronze. Placement will be decided by the number of points a team accumulates, with three points awarded for a win and one point for a tie. South Asia currently leads the standings with six points accumulated in three games. Africa/Middle East sits in second with four points after two games, with the Americas right behind with three points. Europe and Asia are still in the hunt with two and one point, respectively.

The World Cup is just one of the events sponsored this year by the ISO in its effort to become more visible on campus. "We have our immediate sights set on basketball, table tennis and badminton tournaments," said Gilani, "and we may have other sporting events later on. The ISO is a bridge between International and American students and these events create co-participation between the groups." The organization also has plans for a symposium on Tibet and will put on a charity concert in the spring, using the events as a way to become more involved in the community. As the World Cup has shown, the group is certainly off to a good start.