Team First Nations kicks it into top 4 for 4th year in a row
- Katie Doke Sawatzky | June 20, 2017
Team First Nations from the North Battleford area made it to the quarterfinals for the fourth year in a row at the Saskatoon World Cup on May 18-22.
“I think a lot of us are getting hungry now where we want to get into the semifinals on Monday. A lot of us want to win it,” said Shalen Fox, who is from Sweetgrass First Nation and plays mid-field for team First Nations.
This is the third year in a row that the team has won their pool but lost in the quarterfinals to Brazil, who went on to win the tournament.
“It’s like we’re still missing something to make it past the next step,” said Tesler Mosquito, who plays center-mid and is from Mosquito Grizzly Bear’s Head First Nation.
“Maybe it’s a coach. I don’t know. Maybe it’s like one more game-changer-type player because all the players that we’re playing against are guys who almost made it or did make it professionally, like guys who are getting flown from China and Toronto,” said Mosquito.
Several of the players on First Nations play university or college soccer and are from reserves around North Battleford, including Mosquito, Sweetgrass, Beardy’s and Okemasis and Poundmaker Cree Nation.
“In this area there’s a large community of soccer players so to go and send our best is good,” said Fox. “Most of us play high end soccer to go and show actually show that we can play with the best in the province, even outside the province, that just makes us more proud to be First Nations and play and also to have lots of support from other fans.”
In the quarterfinal against Brazil, First Nations was up 2-1 before letting in a goal that tied it right before the half. Brazil scored right away in the second half. Fox said his team tried to push up in order to score, which left them with a weak defense, something the other team took advantage of. The final score was 4-2 Brazil.
One thing Mosquito said would help the team is a sponsorship. Team registration for the tournament costs $500 and jerseys each year cost around $1,000. The players fundraise to pay their way. This year they held a draw in April for various prizes but only a few businesses made donations.
“I don’t know why it’s so hard for us to find a sponsor or why no one is like, ‘Oh, this would be a good marketing team,” said Mosquito. “The crowd that goes there is intense. It’s packed all the time. I don’t want to say we’re the crowd favourite but everyone’s like, ‘I hope you win it this year.’”
With ads allowed on players’ jerseys and on the benches, Mosquito thinks the crowd’s attention is an opportunity for business that would take pressure off the team.
“So we can just focus on playing and focus on building our team and not have to bug guys to fundraise and stuff. ‘Cause there’s jerseys, there’s practice field time to set up exhibition times and everything,” said Mosquito.
Overall, he is proud of how the team performed this year.
“This year was the year where our team finally all came together and was on the same page and the energy was good,” he said.