Battle of the Islands
Cape Breton soccer teams hosting team from St. Pierre and Miquelon
Interested in world soccer, but didn’t make it to France for Euro 2016?
No worries – a boy’s team from the France-owned islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon is in Cape Breton this weekend for a series of international friendlies against four local squads.
After opening the series with a 2-0 win over the Cape Breton Football Club U-14 boys on Thursday, the French-speaking squad took to the pitch again on Friday to tangle with the New Waterford U-14 lads.
New Waterford’s Brett Baxter said it was a great experience to play against a team from another country.
“We really didn’t know too much about them, but they’re pretty good – they like to communicate a lot with each other, but because they’re speaking French we don’t really understand,” said Baxter, whose team came out on the short end of a 2-1 decision at the Cape Breton Health Recreation Complex at Cape Breton University.
But it’s about more than just the score.
On Thursday, Cape Breton Screaming Eagles marketing manager Chris Tournidis toured the visiting team around the QMJHL team facilities at Centre 200.
Ludivine Quédinet, president of the St. Pierre and Miquelson soccer association, said the trip to Cape Breton is a fantastic opportunity for the young French nationals to learn a little about their neighbours. She said teams in her association usually travel to nearby Newfoundland for games.
“It’s new for them, so to come here and see Cape Breton is fun,” said Quédinet, who said that while hockey is popular on the islands, it lags behind soccer when it comes to the number of youngsters playing the sport.
The visitors are back on the CBHRC pitch today (Saturday) for a pair of matches. At 10 a.m. they’ll face off against the Glace Bay U-14 boys, before returning to the facility for an indoor game in the dome at 6 p.m. against the Baddeck U-16 boys.
And, while it’s against the odds that any of the players taking part in the series will ever make a national team, they can at least say they’ve taken part in an international friendly.