SEALS Cup 2024 opened on Friday, the 26th of July, 2024, with Veterinary Medicine snatching three points at the last minute against Philosophy, the defending champions, at the Student Union Building (SUB) Pitch.
The opening ceremony began at 4:30 pm with an address from the Chairman of the SEALS Cup committee, Mr Ayobami Ojeniyi. He welcomed the teams and supporters to the tournament — the third of its kind since it became ‘SEALS’. He also expressed his gratitude towards the organising committee and the sponsors of the competition. The Chairman’s speech was met by grumbling and dissent by the supporters as they were impatient to start the match.
After the speech, the defending champions presented their trophy from the last tournament and the chairman declared the tournament open.
The match kicked off at 4:55 pm. Philosophy started the match as though they had no intentions of defending their title. Minutes later, Tolu of Vet. Medicine had a big chance courtesy of an error from a Philosophy defender but he miskicked and couldn’t convert it. Vet. Medicine kept charging against their opponents who were still not playing as expected. Teslim of Vet. Medicine attempted a nice free kick which was cleared by the Philosophy’s backline.
Philosophy seemed to wake up in the 17th minute as no. 14 recorded their first shot, almost sending the ball out of the pitch. The fans confirmed that the Philosophy team had woken up as their no. 9 made a dangerous cross saved by Orodin, Vet’s goalie. The pressing from both teams on each other had begun to even out when Teslim made his second free kick attempt, a better one than the first. Minutes later, it seemed as if Vet. Medicine had run out of energy as they were being pressed seriously. Tobi of Philosophy took a shot which seemed to be heading for KDL at first but didn’t get there eventually. At a certain point in the match it seemed as if Orodin had gone into ‘god mode’ as he made save after save.
Some fans had begun to complain of the absence of Awo, a graduate of Philosophy. Many boasted that he’d had scored a goal if he were present. Sat from Vet tried an acrobatic finish, similar to that of United’s Alejandro Garnacho against Everton, but it failed woefully. Philosophy’s attempts were all frustrated by Orodin as he proved to be a wall in Vet’s goal. Vet. Medicine made their first substitution in the 26th minute as Hessy replaced Victor, a substitution that’d go on to change the trajectory of the game. The half time whistle was blown minutes later.
The second half kicked off at 5:38 pm with Vet. Medicine making their second substitution as Tomiwa replaced Tolu. Seconds into the second half, John’s shot was saved by Orodin although an offside call was made immediately. Philosophy pressed Vet. Medicine in the second half and the Vet. team could barely respond. Orodin seemed to be the only Vet. player who had stepped up his game as he kept making unbelievable and dramatic saves. 2 players from both teams decided to put football aside and go physical and the referee immediately called both of them to order.
Tobi from philosophy tried a Suarez-esque flick from a cross but failed to make it on target. Philosophy kept on playing excellently as the defending champions that they are with Orodin standing in the gap for Vet., denying at least three goals. Tomiwa from Vet. found himself in a tight corner with John and was dribbled past. He resolved to committing a foul as he brought John down, earning himself the first yellow card of the game. The Vet. team, for the first time in the second half, advanced close to the opposition’s penalty box but it was futile. Minutes later, they had their first shot since the second half began.
Philosophy’s captain, John, received a yellow card in the fifteenth minute of the second half for pushing the Vet. goalie but just before that, Philosophy had made their first substitution bringing on Bowale to replace Emmanuel. Orodin made another tremendous save causing fans to go wild and raise chants of his name, even though Vet. seemed to be in a struggle in finding their feet still. In the 20th minute of the second half, Teslim from Vet. dribbled down the right side of the penalty box and saw his shot miss the goal by centimetres.
Orodin made yet another save, but went down immediately after, the third time he would go down during the match. He was immediately attended to. There were scenes on the sideline as the Philosophy captain, John, was seemingly unhappy about the substitution made by the coach in the dying minutes of the game. The Philosophy coach had seemingly brought on Ife to replace Peace, to his [John’s] displeasure.
Philosophy seemed relentless as it was obvious that Vet. had started slipping. Justice of Philosophy had a free kick attempt which pushed over the cross bar by Orodin. He tried scoring from the resulting corner but it was to no end. In the dying minutes of the game just when Vet. fans were praying for a draw after all of Orodin’s efforts, the Vet. team seemed to find their feet. For the first time, they completed three successive passes building their counter attack. Hessy found himself at the end of the counter with the Philosophy’s goalie running towards him. He showed full composure in the 31st minute of the first half, calmly lobbing the ball into the back of the net, and sending the Vet. fans crazy.
Philosophy tried to hit back but it was futile as the referee blew the full time whistle at 6:14 pm with the Vet. fans invading the field to celebrate while the defending champions bowed their heads in a disappointing defeat.
Speaking with the UIMSA Press, Vet’s coach, Emmanuel Owolabi, said ‘It was a great match from both sides, it was actually a great result considering the fact we were facing the defending champions, this might be a stepping stone for us getting to the finals.’ A Philosophy fan, who opted to remain anonymous said ‘The match was fair, the result was disappointing yes, but the match was fair, we missed our chances, they converted the most important one they had. I expected more from the team tho…’
Other fixtures resume on Monday, 29th of July, 2024.
Joseph Jacobs.
