Tough competition in Latvia when Imanta Orphanage won again

TV stars and famous footballers recently gathered in Riga to get an already exciting football tournament into proper party mood when the MTG United for Peace Cup was held in Latvia. The famous Skonto Hall where it all took place had held events such as the Eurovision Song Contest and the World Hockey Championships in the past. But on Saturday 27 August it was all about football!

The arena was air-conditioned, which proved handy since the weather outside was very hot, with temperatures rising up to 27 degrees! Ten teams consisting of young footballers between 12 and 14 years of age, from all over Latvia, took part. They were all eager to do their very best so their team could represent their country in the finals of MTG United for Peace later on this autumn in Oslo, Norway.

Most of the children from the teams Valmiera SOS Village, Imanta Orphanage, Stikli Orphanage, Kalupe Elementary School, Jelgava Social Care Centre for Children, Eleja Support Centre for Children and Families, Īslīce SOS Village, Naujiena Orphanage, Saurieši Day Centre and Orphanage Līkumi can be described as coming from unfortunate backgrounds. But that was all completely beside the point during the tough and intense battles on the pitch that saw all the kids put in a great effort to take their teams as far as they possibly could.

The matches were spread out all through the day but that was not all, both TV3 stars and famous footballers were there to make the day something really special. An All Star football match took place between the children and a celebrity team consisting of footballers Mihails Zemļinskis, Natālija Vihrova, Aleksandrs Jeļisejevs, Laura Voltere , journalist Sandijs Semjonovs of Nothing Personal, TV3 hosts Ģederts Ģelzis and Endijs Bošs, No Taboo reporter Alberts Dinters and Star FM news anchor Ģirts Auzāns. Two players were chosen from each team by their team mates to join efforts with their counterparts to make up the mixed children’s team. The wide array of stars did their best to beat the children’s team and even received welcome support from TV3 news anchor Agnese Vārpiņa who arrived to cheer her team to victory. The exciting football game ended in a draw.

The children had a great day out together. As well as the football tournament they also watched two animated movies at the Forum Cinema: “Cars 2” and “Smurfs”. The shared passion for the game of football made it easy for the youngsters to find common ground; by the end of the day they were hanging out like old friends!

When it was time for the last two remaining teams to meet in the final, history repeated itself from last year. Saurieši Day Centre met Imanta Orphanage and after a tough and fierce match, the talented team from Imanta Orpanage beat the opposition 2-0 and secured victory for the second year in a row! By doing so, the two times national champions have now also guaranteed access to plane tickets to Oslo in October, where the team will represent Latvia in the international finals of the MTG United for Peace Cup.