CONIFA International Friendly
Church Road, Whyteleafe
Admission: £8.00
Programme: £1.00
Attendance: 179
Despite reaching late May and league seasons, for the most part, have been done and dusted for the best part of a month now, there are still games to be found to eke out the season a little more before my summer recess. Always keen to take in unusual fixtures, this was a game I would very much look forward to taking in once it was announced, between two members of the CONIFA organisation.
I had visited Church Road earlier this season, last November, although there was enough different about today's visit to make it worth the trip for a revisit to the ground alone. Whereas then I drove, this time I would be letting the train take the strain, with the ground just a ten minute walk away from Whyteleafe train station. November's visit was also on a midweek evening, with persistent heavy rain ensuring a good soaking whenever exposed to the elements, whereas today was a warm, sunny day, enabling visitors to fully appreciate a very pleasant setting, surrounded by trees, and with steep hills close by in the background. Perhaps it was due to the warm weather that the smell of rubber from the 3G pitch was pronounced today. A commemorative ticket was issued on admission, which was a very nice touch, and an 8 page programme was available, in full colour and covering the basics in terms of welcome messages, introductions to both teams and expected squad listings.
Cascadia is quite a new organisation representing a region on the west coast of North America, comprising the US States of Washington and Oregon, and the Canadian province of British Columbia. They played their first ever fixture at last summer's CONIFA World Football Cup as a wild card entry, and they did quite well, claiming sixth place out of 16 in the final standings,winning three of their fixtures and losing their last on penalties. The six fixtures played at the 2018 World Football Cup are the only fixtures Cascadia have played before today, although they have a home fixture against Darfur to look forward to in July, to be played in Washington. Today would be the fourth time I have watched the Chagos Islands, most recently just a month ago, when they triumphed 2-3 against International Surrey Football at Merstham. According to the current CONIFA rankings alone, Cascadia would be big favourites to win today, in tenth place whereas Chagos Islands down in 36th place. But it is difficult to read too much into those rankings, as they are only updated twice a year, most recently last October, and the Chagos Islands may benefit from being a close knit outfit, and perhaps buoyed by the excellent news that the UN is cranking up the pressure on the United Kingdom to relinquish control of the Chagos Islands and allow second and third generation Chagossians the opportunity to return to their spiritual homeland, having been forbidden from even visiting, let alone live on, the archipelago since 1973.
On a warm, sunny afternoon, this match started quite evenly, until Cascadia opened the scoring on 22 minutes, Callum Powell running onto a ball played forward before striking the ball low across the keeper and into the bottom right corner. Less than two minutes later and Cascadia doubled their lead, when Chase Boone tucked the ball home after Max Oldham's deflected shot was parried by the keeper. But Chagos Islands pulled a goal back on 34 minutes with a good goal, a low curling shot struck from the edge of the area by Hanslie Sagaie which went in just inside the post, which the keeper may have slightly misjudged. But right on the stroke of half time, Cascadia restored their two goal lead, Angelo Calfo powerfully heading home at the far post from a corner. Immediately following the kick-off, the referee blew his whistle for half time.
Within a couple of minutes of the restart, it seemed like game over as Cascadia scored their fourth, Oldham kept on dribbling forward before eventually poking the ball past the keeper. But just a minute later, the Chagossians were awarded a penalty when their player was pushed over as he was running to the right edge of the penalty area. Mervyn Bunjun slammed the ball into the left side of the goal. And they would go on to have their best spell of the match, but could not quite pull another goal back, and on 76 minutes, Cascadia scored their fifth. A Chagos attack broke down, leading to a quick counter attack, with Kyle Lemon playing in Luke Powell and ran towards goal before lashing a shot past the keeper and into the far corner. And on 81 minutes, Cascadia scored their sixth, Boone scoring his second, converting a low cross with the ball squirming through the keeper. But on 89 minutes, the Chagossians were gifted a goal, when the Cascadia keeper unnecessarily tried to dribble the ball away from Andrew Heroseau, and his eventual attempted clearance ricocheted off of Heroseau's boot and the ball bounced into the empty net. Cascadia had time to come close to scoring another following another quick counter attack, a shot going just wide of the far post. But the scoreline was convincing enough as it was.
This was a most entertaining afternoon, with the game full of attacking intent, played in a very good spirit and in gloriously warm and sunny conditions, with a pleasantly relaxed atmosphere around the ground. Cascadia certainly deserved the victory, but it was good to see a lively performance by the Chagossians rewarded with three goals. Their next game comes Sunday, when they travel to Yorkshire to take on the Parishes of Jersey.
Video footage of the entire match can be viewed by clicking here.
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