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Sports | 7 July, 2006 [ 08:26 ]

Peru reaches quarterfinals in Street Soccer World Cup

The Peruvian street soccer selection won its match against a combined team from Israel-Palestine by 3:0, qualifying for the quarterfinals of the international tournament held in Berlin, Germany, parallel to the FIFA World Cup.

In its previous second-round match Peru defeated Kenya with another forceful result: 4-2.

So far the "blanquirroja” squad has lost only once (0:1) against the team from the Balkans and won six. They beat Colombia (3-0), Costa Rica (1-0), the United States (1-0), Paraguay (3-1), Kenya (4-2) and now Israel-Palestine (3-0).

The selections are mixed in this event. The Peruvian players are Karen Paredes, Rubén Cano, Jared Moreno, Aldair Medina, César Gutiérrez, Edson Zapata, Emanuel Rivera and Juan Carlos Cotrina and they are coached by Emerson Calderón.
Most of our players come from the Limean district of Villa El Salvador.

The games are played five against five, on a field of 15 by 25 meters, extraordinarily located on the roof of a gigantic supermarket in Berlin's district of Kreuzberg.

The tournament will extend until tomorrow, July 8, a day before the Final of the main event Italy and France.
22 countries compete in the street soccer cup, several teams come from countries marked by wars and conflicts like Afghanistan, Rwanda, a combined Palestinian-Israeli squad, and the Balkans field players from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro in one team.

The competition wants to raise awareness world wide in the fight against drugs, violence and racism.

Before the tournament critics complained about the exclusion of teams from Ghana and Nigeria whose visitor visas were denied. The German Ministry of Foreign Affairs justified the refusal by saying that even for a tournament like this current German immigration laws have to be respected. "Reasonable doubts about the players willingness to return to their country left us with no choice of legal alternatives", officials said.

(read also our Chronicle article 'Building resilience through street soccer in Peru' for more background information)


UPDATE: Unfortunately the quarterfinals marked the end for the team from Villa El Salvador in this tournament. In a highly entertaining match the Peruvians lost to a team from Bolivia by a score of 4:5.

World Champion became the team from Kenya, a team that was defeated by Peru earlier in the tournament. Kenya won the Final against a team from South Africa in another close match, 4:3.

tags : Peru sports street soccer Berlin Germany VillaElSalvador WorldCup

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