Girls’ soccer team from Cedar Rapids wins international tournament, even without a goalkeeper

CEDAR RAPIDS — Despite not having a goalie, a girls’ 15U soccer team from Cedar Rapids was able to win the very competitive Eskils Cup.

On the same day the United States women's World Cup team lost to Sweden on penalty kicks, FC United beat host Sweden in Hälsingborg.

The Eskils Cup is one of the largest soccer tournaments in the world, with a total of about 725 teams participating annually.

The Cedar Rapids team decided to sign up for the tournament not knowing what would happen.

“It was an open tournament, so teams from different countries will sign up,” FC United executive director Bill Ajram said.

“We took a combined team of three ages, so some of the players were younger playing up a couple of ages. I knew that the younger players were good players.”

The local team was forced to go without a goalkeeper for the entire tournament, but didn’t give up a goal in six matches.

"We were going to have a goalkeeper play with our team. She was from Sweden,” Ajram said. “But she broke her arm a day before our first game in Denmark.”

Many girls who played different positions offered to step in and play goalkeeper.

“We had several (girls) step in over the course of the tournament,” he said.

In the championship game, Libby Werner (a forward) was able to take on that role. She blocked two of Sweden’s penalty kicks, while F.C. United made all of its kicks to win a championship.

“I really just expected us to have a good cultural experience,” Ajram said of his expectations.

The team was in Sweden and Denmark for a total of nine days and learned a lot about the countries.

“We recognized that we were going to have multiple games to prepare physically and mentally,” Ajram said. “But at the same time, we're also there for the cultural experience and to take inasmuch as we can.”

The team had two preparation games in Denmark against local clubs.

“They invited us to barbecue and grill out, so we went out with them after the game,” Ajram said.

The team went on tours during the day in Denmark. They had a very positive experience in the country.

“From the players’ standpoint, just to get to be over there and take in the culture and lifestyle … history … and traditions, houses and buildings,” Ajram said. “It was a really cool experience for our players.”

The team then traveled to Sweden for the actual tournament.

“In both countries the atmosphere was great, particularly because this is happening during the women's World Cup,” Ajram said. “We went to watch the game as a team in the Olympic Stadium … but then having the game go to penalty kicks, I was like ‘we’re in the semifinals, we should go practice our penalty kicks, too.’”

The team did just that and also worked on its rotation and mental toughness.

The USA women's World Cup came up short, but FC United did not.

“To kind of be in the same situation (as the women's World Cup team) playing against Sweden, in their stadium, on that same day, in a similar scenario was pretty cool,” Ajram said.