GATIG 2022: FCE Abeokuta defeats TASCE to win football gold as TASUED emerges overall champion

Olamide O. Abe

Federal College Education, Abeokuta on Tuesday defeated Tai Solarin College of Education 1-0 to emerge champions of the 2022 Gateway Tertiary Institution Games in the men’s football category.

Olakunle Daniel’s 48th minute goal was the difference in the final match played at the Gateway International Stadium, Sagamu.

Nine institutions participated in the 5th edition of the games but only 7 registered their team for men’s football event with the exception of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) and Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED).

On their road to final, TASCE defeated Cresent University 4-0, Ogun State College of Health Technology (OSCOHTECH) 3-0 and was held 1-1 by D.S. Adegbenro Polytechnic while FCE Abeokuta saw off Abraham Adesanya Polytechnic (AAPOLY) and I.C.T Polytechnic, Sapade 3-2 and 1-0 respectively enroute to final.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Azeez Oluseyi’s perceptive through pass split the Omu-Ijebu educators’ defence, enabling Olakunle Daniel to beat the advancing Akinbolade Opeyemi to the ball before lobbing it over him to the unguarded net.

FCE Abeokuta had already lost their talisman, Oduntan Boluwatife to injury by that point, and they were forced into a reshuffle as he was unable to continue after a heavy collision with his opponent.

The Adebayo Balogun led side continued to defend superbly and, with TASCE increasingly committing men forward, occasionally menaced on the break, was almost pegged back through a free-kick but the crossbar came to their rescue.

TASCE did, concurrently, pen FCE Abeokuta in for most of the last 5 minutes but struggled to create clear opportunities.

In the female football category, TASUED secured the much needed 4-0 win against OSCOHTECH to emerge the gold medalist.

REACTIONS

The Captain of FCE Abeokuta, Samuel Ariyibi told Made In Africa Sports that the thought of having little chance of winning the tournament was key for his team to win the keenly contested match.

“From the onset of the competition, we saw ourselves as the underdogs, the determination we got coming as underdogs was there and made us play together as a team,” he said.

Ariyibi also charged his school management to take responsibility and use this as “an antecedent” to support the team in subsequent events.

Downhearted Captain of the TASCE side, Adeolu Taiwo Oluwatosin, said the fatigue of playing too many matches played a big part in his team’s upsetting loss.

“I think we lost due to the pressures of the game and fatigue because we played 3 games yesterday.

“It was the same formation we used to defeat Cresent 4-0 yesterday. We created chances that our strikers will score on a normal day but I think their legs are weak now playing three matches yesterday and final today,” he said.

OVERALL MEDAL TABLE

TASUED emerged overall best with 21 gold, 15 silver, 8 bronze, for a total of 44 medals and went home with the biggest trophy presented by permanent secretary of Ogun State Ministry of Youths and Sports, Engineer Olayiwola Abiodun.

OOU came second with 18 gold, 8 silver, and 9 bronze, totaling 35 medals. Though, TASCE won 23 medals (2 gold, 12 silver, and 19 bronze) but was pegged to the third position by FCE Abeokuta, who gathered 22 medals (10 gold, 5 silver, and 7 bronze) as a result of the golden rule. When it comes to calculating a team’s standing on the official medal table, the number of golds gained rather than the actual amount of medals acquired dictates the ranking.

OSCOHTECH emerged 5th with 2 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze for a total of 4 medals. While AAPOLY (1 gold, 13 silver, and 11 bronze), Cresent University (1 gold, 2 silver, and 5 bronze), and D.S. Adegbenro Polytechnic (1 gold, 2 silver, and 2 bronze) finished 6th, 7th, and 8th respectively.

Gateway ICT Polytechnic, Sapade ended the event as the only institution with no medal in all events.

Chairman of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, Ogun State chapter, Mr. Akeem Akintunde announced all the winners and the top three winning schools were excited as they went forward to receive their trophies.

Nice. Which stadium is this?

Gateway international stadium Sagamu