By Teymour Said Al-Habal, Year 12
It is only the beginning of the 2024/2025 school year and the boys football team is looking quite strong. The category A team for the seniors, ranging from year 11 to year 13 has taken part in a few tournaments already. LGB’s category B team has also had the opportunity to show themselves this year. Both teams train together every Monday and Wednesday and are trained by coach Grégory Rémy and coach Hassan Wissam.
The first tournament of the year was played by the seniors Cat.A team at the Centre Sportif de Vessy on the 24th of September. They played 11 players on the field in a 4-1-4-1 formation and later changed to a 3-4-3. After failing to reach the finals due to a 0-0 draw against La Châtaigneraie, they faced Le Rosey in a game for the 3-4th place and conceded 3 goals, resulting in a defeat.
Just a few weeks later, that same team traveled to Lausanne for a two-day tournament that would crown the new Swiss champions. The games were played on the beautiful pitches of the professional team Lausanne-Sports facilities: Stade de la Tuilière. The action-filled tournament was hosted by the fellow international school ISL. The group stage games were played on Thursday, 3rd of November and the quarters, semis, and finals were played on the Friday, 4th of November. The first game of the tournament, the team faced a 2-1 defeat against the hosts, however the team still qualified at second place for the later stages. After multiple changes by Coach Hassan throughout the games, the team made it to the semi-finals against the reigning champions from last year, Zurich International School. The team advanced to the finals after a 1-0 victory to then meet ISL again, this time however, in the finals. In the first half, Teymour Al-Habal from year 12 scored from a cross into the box by Max Tijero to take the lead. Just a few minutes later, Raphael Domange from year 11 scored a beautiful goal, lobbing the keeper nearly 40m from the goal. Later in the second half, our temporary keeper, Julian Clamorgan conceded from a free kick, taking the score from 2-0 to 2-1, the same score as the first match. This action-filled match crowned LGB as national champions of international schools coming from all over Switzerland in front of many spectators, watching from the sidelines.
Just this weekend, Coach Greg took the Category B team to the ESC Juniors Varsity, this time for the category just under. They saw victory in the first two games against The Hague and TASIS Lugano, beating them 5-2 and 2-0. The game after they were defeated by Barcelona with a scoreline of 4-1. The team finished in 4th place after losing a tight game against the International School of Zug-Luzern, 3 goals to 2.
Next weekend, the Cat.A team looks forward to representing the school in a European tournament in Valencia, Spain. Despite the floods in the region, they are expected to travel abroad and play for the school to hopefully bring the trophy back to La Grande Boissière if the weather permits.
