Burundi v England
Burundi (12) v England (6)
A high-paced match where the two rivals battling for a place in the quarter finals of the Huis Forbes Trophy kept trying to out-do each other.
Burundi and England kept scoring, remaining focused, determined and swift. It would have been impossible to predict the outcome of this match until the end of the second half because as soon one team scored, the other was galvanized into action to score again.England scored the first two goals within the first two minutes, but Burundi bagged the first goal ten seconds after England had scored for the first time, then scored again during the third minute, achieving the first of many equalisers, leaving the crowd holding its breath.
England scored again a minute later and once more on the firth minute but the goal was disallowed, as the striker appeared to have touched the ball.
It was the African team to control the ball and score twice more in the first half.
Far from being demoralised, England battled on in the first few minutes of the second half, although it was Burundi which scored again just as the clock stroke one minute and three seconds. This was enough to prompt England to score twice more. By the end of the third minute of this high-paced match, both Burundi and England had scored six months, but from this moment on things started to go downhill for England.
At 3.06 minutes, Burundi scored again and just one minute later once again. By the 5.59 minutes it had scored again. England's focus and panache had melted by now, but not its courage. The team tried hard to exploit every opportunity but it was its eagerness that made their play more feverish than coherent. Burundi's agile and swift players managed two more goals by the end of the seventh minute. It looked as if the African team was not banking on resting on the laurels of their growing lead and was focussed on scoring more and more to extend it further.
The match ended 12 :6 in favour of Burundi, but both teams deserved the crowd's lively cheers.
Cecilia Valente