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The Nigerian Arsenal Supporters (Gunners) football club commonly known as ‘Arsenal-Nigeria’ has emerged winners of the six-a-side Babatunde Raji Fashola (BRF) Soccer Tournament among weekend clubs in Lagos.

The team beat Apapa/Ajegunle All Stars, 5-4 via penalty shoot-out in a pulsating final played on Saturday at the Campos Square mini-stadium,

in a thrilling encounter that was decided by penalty shoot out. Scores at full time stood at 1-1.

Arsenal-Nigeria opened scoring in the first half courtesy of a spectacular volley from one of its forwards; Apapa evened scores in the dying moments of the game to take the game to a shoot out.

The penalty shoot out that followed was entertaining and nerve-wracking with the first five kicks failing to produce a winner owing largely to the efforts of the two goalkeepers.

In the second round of the shoot-out, the Arsenal-Nigeria goalkeeper saved the first spot kick to pave way for his team captain to score and win the game.

Organised professionals

Commenting on his team’s performance, Antai Effiong, Vice President of Arsenal-Nigeria, said that though pundits did not give the team any chance of qualifying from the group stage, the victory did not come to him as a surprise.

“We are a very well organized group of professionals in diverse fields of human endeavour, who meet to play regularly on Saturdays and have developed a good understanding among ourselves over the years. We also participate regularly in tournaments of this nature, locally and internationally to sharpen our competitive edge. Some of the trophies we have won include the 2008 Best of Fans Trophy, 2010 NIFEX Charity Cup and the 2008 IFA WorldNet Trophy, which we won in Leeds, United Kingdom. We had actually used this tournament to prepare ourselves for the IFA WorldNet Tournament coming up mid-July, 2011 in Leeds. As the only team from Africa, we hope to win the trophy again this year” he said.

The 2011 BRF Soccer Tournament was organised in honour of Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, who was on hand to present the trophy to the victorious team. The tourney featured ten weekend football clubs in Lagos including All Stars International, Managers FC, Ikorodu All Stars,

Jeunsoke FC, All Stars Family and Festac All Stars.