Auburn — Uniting the Muslim community.
That was the message of this year's Ramadan soccer tournament in Lewiston/Auburn. The tournament concluded on Saturday night with the adult and U17 championship games played at the Ingersoll Turf Facility.
“It means a lot to me,” said Salaan FC player Suleiman Eemi. “It means a lot for everyone to come together, the community and the kids.”
It is also the meaning of Ramadan, which starts on March 10th and lasts until April 9th.
“Ramadan means peace,” said Salaan FC's Khalid Mohamed.
Salaan FC defeated Winter Warriors 3-2 in a penalty shootout to win the U17 Championship. Salaan FC has won the tournament in the past two tournaments, but this is the first time they have won the tournament.
Mohamed scored two goals in the first half and scored on a penalty kick, contributing to the U17 MVP award.
For many Muslims, soccer is a passion.
“The community comes together to play soccer,” Amin “Kobe” Addou said. “It's something we love.”
Ado won the MVP of the adult tournament. He had a hat trick in the DeKalb Stars' 5-1 victory over the Golden Boys in the tournament final. Abdi Karim scored the final two goals for the DeKalb Stars. Abdi Noor scored for the Golden Boys.
Addo said the Stars took advantage of the opportunity, but it could have gone either way.
“Everyone was a good team,” Addo said. “It was fair across the board. All that mattered was who came out and played hard.”
The focus of this year's event was the U17 tournament. Tournament organizers have decided not to award prize money to adult winners and runners-up. Instead, with the help of our sponsors, all 12 of Salam FC's members received his Apple iPad mini.
“They are the backbone of the community,” tournament co-organizer Mohamed Khalid said of the young people. “We were thinking about how to support them. So we had to reach out to other organizations to help. … A lot of (the children) are from low-income neighborhoods, low-income families. We were thinking, how can we support them? They're going to use them in school. They're going to use them for the rest of their lives. That's what it's all about.”
Khalid said the iPad distribution would not have been possible without the support of John F. Murphy Homes, Gateway Community Services, Androscoggin Bank and the Auburn-Lewiston YMCA.
Khalid said the tournament was supported by the cities of Lewiston and Auburn, and both the Lewiston High School soccer field and Ingersoll turf facility were available for use for the tournament, which opened March 11.
“It was a shorter tournament than usual because we had to respect the last 10 days of Ramadan,” Khalid said.
The Quran is believed to have been revealed to the Prophet Muhammad through the angel Jibrael on one of the last ten nights of Ramadan.
Co-tournament organizer Livan Negay said he enjoyed seeing the smiles on the children's faces and hoped that soccer would have a positive impact.
“I want young people, even older people, most young people, to stay at home and play football and be active instead of participating in street activities. I think so,” Negay said. “We've had a lot of gun violence lately, so our main goal is to keep them off the streets.”
Negay said he hopes the tournament will inspire the young people who watched both games in the stands Saturday night and that they will someday be the stars of the tournament.
“You can see that even the little kids are happy and excited just to be here and see everyone come together for this great tournament,” Negay said. “That's beautiful.”
Despite losing in the U17 Championship, Winter Warriors player Nudoshir Hassan enjoyed the experience.
“I wanted to have fun,” Hassan said of why he wanted to compete in the tournament.
Hassan scored the equalizer with less than a minute left in the second half, sending the game to penalties. Abdihakim “Dayo” Daoud scored early in the second half for the Winter Warriors.
This was Khalid's fifth year running the event, and this year he brought in Negay to help with the operations.
Khalid and Negay said the soccer tournament began in the mid-2000s.
But the competition has grown over the past two years.
“They’ve always done this,” Adow said of the community that hosts the tournament. “It wasn't as big as this year or last year. That's when everyone came together and came together.”
” previous
Junior Hockey: Maine Nordiques defeat Rochester Junior Americans in overtime
Related article
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Please use the form below to reset your password. Once you submit your account email, you will receive an email with a reset code.