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Brasil Wins Brotherhood Cup Gold Medal With
4-3 Shootout Win Over Argentina

El Salvador Beats Ghana 2-1 for Bronze

In a rematch of a Day 1 pairing, Brasil, left, met Argentina, right, in the 1st Americas Brotherhood Cup Gold Medal Match.

After playing to a 0-0 tie in regulation and in overtime, Brasil defeated host nation Argentina 4-3 in an overtime shoot-out to win the First Americas Brotherhood Cup.

The tournament was hosted at the Union Athletic Club in the City of Crespo of Crespo, Entre Rios Province, Argentina. Crespo hosted the tournament after both the English Football Association (the FA) and the City of Novo Friburgo, Brazil, reneged on their commitments to host the championship tournament this year.

El Salvador Defeated African Champion Ghana 2-1 to Win the Bronze.

Best Players of the Tournament

Top scorer for the tournament was Rogerio Almeida, No. 9, Brasil, who scored 4 goals.

The best goalkeeper was Wagner de Assis, also from Brasil He allowed 3 goals until the Gold Medal shoot-out.

Finally, after voting by coaches and player, Hugo Hereņu, player No. 10 from Argentina, was named the Best Player in the Americas.

Union Club officials said more than 10,000 people attended the tournament.



A Championship amputee soccer tournament is being held this year.

The Union (Athletic) Club and the City of Crespo, Entre Rios, Argentina, is hosting the First Americas Brotherhood Cup for Amputees between November 23 and 26, 2009.

Amputee soccer players from the Union Club in Crespo represented Argentina in the first Brotherhood cup.

Union will present a sharp Argentine squad which will face national teams from Brazil, El Salvador and Ghana as a special guest.

The quality of the tournament is shown by the fact that Ghana is the current African Championship team. Brazil won the Amputee Soccer world Cup in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. El Salvador won the World Cup three times in the early days of the sport - in 1987, 1988, 1989 - and is making a bid to rebuild it's national team to world-cup strength.

Argentina, represented by the Union Athletic Club of Crespo, won the South American tournament played in Maringá, Brazil.

The tournament, a true competition of champions, will help support the wide range of sports offered by the Union Club.

Wide impact

The Union Club took the tournament leadership after both the English FA and the City of Novo Friburgo, Brazil, refused to live up to their commitments to host the 2009 championships.

"Crespo and especially the Union Club, gave us what we could not find in other governing institutions and their leaders. In Crespo we find respect, warmth and a willingness to pursue this discipline," said Hugo Hereņu, player the national team.

He also stressed the importance of this competition and the institutional effort to make the tournament happen.

"Everything went came together very quickly, and for that you need good discipline and decision-making. Union faced the challenge, then everyone joined in to make the tournament a reality. "

Aspirations

1st Americas Brotherhood Cup
Crespo, Entre Rios, Argentina
Day 1 - Lunes Ghana
2
 El Salvador
1
23 Nov 09 Brasil 3  Argentina 1 
Day 2 - Martes Brasil 1 El Salvador0
24 Nov 09 Argentina 3   Ghana 1
Day 3 - Miercoles 9 am Brasil3   Ghana 1
25 Nov 09           11 am Argentina2 El Salvador1
After Regular Tournament Play
Team
Points
Brazil
Argentina
Ghana
El Salvador

9
6
3
0

Semi-Finals
Day 3 - Miercoles 8 pm Brasil -
Ranked 1		 1   El Salvador -
Ranked 4		  0  
25 Nov 09        9:30 pm Argentina -
Ranked 2
1
   Ghana -
Ranked 3
0
Argentina, according Hereņu, is expecting to do very well in this tournament.

"Ghana has a fast-paced style, and both El Salvador and Brazil are ambassadors of skill and good touch. But we have also prepared and trained with discipline and have practiced in quite a number of friendlies this year."

"We have nothing to envy, we are a package that will rise to the occasion, we have skill, pride and enthusiasm that is contagious. Here we also have the home advantage and as the people Crespo support us we can reach the Finals" he said.

Global target

One Argentina's priorities is to host the next edition of the Amputee Soccer World Cup in October 2010. "The Congress of the World Amputee Football (Soccer) Federation (WAFF) will decide on the venue for the 2010 World Cup. I have high hopes for Crespo," Hereņu said.

"I think with the organization of this event, everyone will see that the City is ready and willing to receive the world's best players next year."

The WAFF Congress is set to begin just after the conclusion of the Brotherhood Cup.

2009 World Cup Cancelled
Argentina Bids for 2010

For the first time in the history of amputee football a world championship tournament has been cancelled.

The tournament failed because just weeks before the opening of the 2009 Amputee Football World Cup, the city of Novo Friburgo, Brazil, broke its word.

The City that welcomed the Amputee Championship just a few months ago suddenly changed its mind and rejected the amputee sportsmen.

That "change of mind" caused teams around the world to lose thousands of dollars in non-refundable airline tickets, damaged the reputations of national amputee football associations around the world, and worst of all, crushed the hopes of players who dreamed of competing in a world championship tournament.

But honor - a man or an administration keeping its word - evidently isn't much of a concern in Novo Friburgo. The mayor and city administration gave no concern for the hardship they caused. They simply made a conscious decision to break their word.

WAFF President Ademir Cruz de Almedia, tried first to get Novo Friburgo to reconsider, then worked with the Government of Rio in hopes of getting that State to host the tournament. But, Rio said "no", time ran out and the Tournament was cancelled.

The FA Cancelled First

But Novo Friburgo was the second time this year a firm commitment was disregarded. EARLIER this year the English Football Association (the FA) shattered the committment it asked for in 2007.

The FA asked for permission to host the 2009 World Cup at the WAFF Congress two years ago. The WAFF member nations trusted the FA and agreed. A mistake.

After a year-and-a-half stringing the footballers along, the FA suddenly kicked the legs out from under the amputee athletes. The FA canceled its agreement to host the World Cup, canceled funding of English Amputee footballers, and said it would only support blind and CP football.

Immediately after the cancellation announcement the FA's Steve Williams resigned as WAFF Secretary General, triggering the current crisis / chaos .

In a world which apparently no longer acknowledges shame, the FA and the City of Novo Friburgo richly deserve their fair share of it.

New WAFF Officers Named

Nominations for officers to lead the WAFF for the next two years will are now closed. Since only one nomination was made for each office, those individuals are now the new Executive Committee for the World Amputee Football Federation.

Each of the following men were nominated to their offices by Brazil, Liberia, France, Ghana and Sierra Leone. The new WAFF leaders are:


President:
     Ademir Cruz, Brazil

Responsibilities of the President:



First Vice President:
     Jim Frere, Great Britain

Responsibilities of the First Vice President:



2nd Vice President:
     Dr. Ivan Kianski, Russia
Responsibilities of the Second Vice President:

Secretary General:
     Rick Hofmann, USA

Responsibilities of the Secretary General:


Argentina Steps Up

Sr. Hugo Herenu, President of the Argentina Amputee Football Association, has sent a letter to the WAFF leadership formally requesting the privilege of hosting a World Cup Tournament in that country.

The location of the next World Championship will be considered during the upcoming WAFF Congress of Members. Preliminary reports state that form contractual assurances will be required before the Amputee Football World Championships are awarded to any country or city.
 

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