On the 14th of December, 2024, Political Science won the Super Cup tournament (male category) while the Eseosa-led MBBS female team knocked out Statistics to clinch their first gold in four finals.
In the first semifinal match that was played on Thursday, 12th of December, sworn rivals, IPE (Industrial and Production Engineering) and Political Science (POS) faced off. The first half of the match ended uneventfully but the game began to gather more momentum in the second half. POS were soon rewarded with a goal after Oba crossed the ball and Dannymiles connected with it well. POS doubled their lead with Pogba to grant themselves security, ending the match 2 goals to nil. In the second match on Friday evening, the MBBS male team beat Veterinary Medicine 1-0 via a goal scored by Habeeb in the first half of the match.
In the female category, Statistics beat their female counterparts 3-0 thanks to an hat trick by Suliyat in the first match of the semifinals while MBBS females overcame ASSE with a goal from Chidinma. It was a remarkable tournament for both MBBS male and female team with both teams making it to the final, the 4th time of such occurrence.
The finals took place on Saturday, 14th December, with the females final match the first on the schedule. MBBS started the match brightly; skipper Eseosa hit the woodwork in the first half of the match. Later in the second half, Victoria Kolawole of MBBS scored directly from a goal kick to give the team a pivotal goal. At the last minute, Statistics threatened to score by a timely tackle from Eseosa saved the day. The match ended 1-0 securing the win for MBBS.
In the male category, POS defeated MBBS 4 goals to 1 in the penalty shootout after a 1-all draw in full time. Karbon gave MBBS the lead in the first half but the POS team remained resilient. Skipper, Pogba, kept terrorizing the MBBS defence and finally got his goal late in the second half. In the penalty shootout, Olami of POS saved two penalty kicks while scoring one himself to earn the Social Sciences side the win.
Speaking to the press after the match, Pogba was elated to finally win a major trophy in UI again after missing out on the past 2 ones he played in. “We deserved this win. I give credit to the POS team for this win. We trained hard for it. We lost the final of the SEALS Cup ‘23 and didn’t even get to the final in the SEALS Cup ‘24”.
He also revealed that although he is planning to take a break in UI football, he is setting his sights on the next edition of the SEALS Cup as that is the only competition he has not won in UI. “There is only one trophy left that I have not won which is the SEALS Cup. I am planning to give UI football a break but we’ll see what happens next year. I may still participate”.
The MBBS captain, Ramoni, bemoaned the offside call made by the linesman just before POS equalized in normal time. “I can’t say the officiating was not fair. It was good but the offside call was a mistake from both the centre referee and the linesman”.
He went on to commend the team for their efforts and hopes that the male and female MBBS teams will win the male and female categories of a competition. “I can’t say we didn’t do well. We tried our best. This will be the fourth time both the male and female MBBS teams will be in the final of a competition. I am happy that the females won their category. I hope that both teams will win both categories of a football competition in UI some day”.
At the awards ceremony, the Best Goalkeeper award went to Chioma Obiora, the MBBS keeper, Esther of ASSE was the highest goalscorer with 5 goals while the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award went to Victoria Kolawole of MBBS. For the male category, all awards were shared between MBBS and POS. Taiwo Olamidipupo won two awards – the Best Goalkeeper award and the MVP award. The highest goalscorer of the tournament was Habeeb Akinlabi of MBBS with 5 goals in 4 matches.
Emmanuel Ibitunde.
