For a lot of the Viking players the weekend of December 9th and 10th meant two days of football. After Saturdays defeat to the Winking Frog in the Casual League, it was time for the “old guys”, i.e. those who think of the age of 35 as something belonging to the past, to show how good they actually are at playing soccer.
On Sunday the 10th of December it was time for the last tournament in the Bangkok Veterans Football League on the pitch at Harrow International School. And the Vikings started off great.
Vikings were in group with Japanese team Bangkok United, BSL and the Irish X-change. The match against the Japanese remained goal less, BSL was beaten 3-1 and the Irish X-change suffered a 1-0 defeat. All Viking goals by Anders “Fisker” Schmidt.
One draw and two wins made the Vikings group winners. In the first knock-out game Vikings faced French team Les Gaulois, who were beaten 1-0 on yet another Anders “Fisker” Schmidt goal.
In the quarter final Vikings faced a Thai team and things started off well for the Vikings, when they got one goal up, but the Vikings could not keep the Thais from equalizing. 1-1 at full time meant penalty shoot-out and that was fatal for the Vikings. Both Viking coaches Keld Bak and Anders “Fisker” Schmidt missed their penalties and the Thais did not hesitate to take advantage of that.
The Thais won the penalty shoot-out and went on to the semi-final. For the Vikings only one game remained. A game against German All Stars to decide who should end fifth and sixth in the tournament.
American Tim “Tuna” Real scored twice and secured the fifth place for the Vikings, but head coach Keld Bak is not pleased.
“We really should have made it to the final. We did not deserve to lose to the Thais,” the disappointed midfielder says. However, one thing pleased the Dane.
“This was the tenth and last Veterans tournament of the year. We have won four of them making us unofficial Bangkok Champions,” Keld Bak explains on his way to meet the rest of the Veterans player for a beer and a laugh.
