By Tenzin Zompa
DHARAMSHALA, June 4: The Tibetan National Football Team lost all three-matches of the group stage at the CONIFA (Confederation of Independent Football Tournament) World Cup. The Tibetan team were placed against Abkhazia, Northern Cyprus and Karpatalya in their group that is dubbed as the group of death.
The second match for team Tibet against Northern Cyrus was matched on the score line until the half time. The second half of the game saw 2 more goals with Northern Cyrus winning by the final score of 3-1.
The last match for the Tibetan National Football Team against Karpatalya saw another devastating loss for the Tibetan side by 5 goals to 1. Despite the disappointing campaign at the maiden CONIFA World Cup, the team management and players were joyous for experiencing the immense love and support shown by Tibetans and fans across the world.
“Our players need more experience to play on such global platforms. Their strong will power and determination needs no further development.” says Karma Tsewang, from the Tibetan National Football Team. He expressed his gratitude towards all the people who showed immense love and support for the team throughout the event.
Although the Tibetan side’s run in 2018 CONIFA World Cup was far from success on the pitch, the Chinese government didn’t spare the opportunity to impede the side’s progress in the tournament. “Just having Tibet at the World Football Cup is enough to ruffle feathers”, Paul Watson, CONIFA’s director told reporters.
He further said that several international brands lined up to provide sponsorship but later retracted at China’s behest. “People are scared to sponsor an event like this because they’re afraid of offending China,” Watson told the Independent.
A Tibet team fan Urgen Namgyal told Phayul that the team could come out stronger in their next campaign. “I think we lost our first match against Abkhazia due to the lack of strong team cooperation and stamina, which is totally justifiable. But I think we will definitely see better results next year as the next team will have more time to prepare a better strategy and also to study the strategies of other teams, which is truly vital to win a match.”
Watch the Tibetan team’s goal against Karpatalya here
