A win!

Real Sultan, the Granada premier women's team, got their first notch in the win column with a 2-1 win over the "All Stars" (a bit confident!) from Managua. Carlos, their coach, reports that the girls are working harder than ever and are ready to turn the win into a streak. The inaugural season of the Women's Premier National League has suffered some setbacks that led to cancelled games, including a transportation strike (due to the rising cost of gas) followed by a Tropical Storm. Nevertheless, the teams are still practicing hard and playing the games when they can, and we look forward to following their progress in the 2nd half of the season!

On another note, the U-20 National Team that we trained with is currently participating in the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifier. They opened the tournament with a 2-1 loss to Canada, an impressive showing against a well-known Canadian team! In Nicaragua's group are Canada, Costa Rica, and Jamaica. In the United States' group are Trinidad & Tobago, Mexico, and Cuba. The top two teams from each group move onto the next round, with the top two teams at the end of the tournament qualifying for the World Cup. The World Cup will be held in Chile in November. More info can be found on the US Soccer Website at: http://www.ussoccer.com/common/stContent.jsp_80-2008U20WNTWCQ.html

Ben just returned from a lengthy stint in Uganda, and we are all looking forward to catching up to speak about the next phase of the project. Saturday morning practices are still continuing, and we have now received two sets of evaluations from our Granada staff. We are excited to get some more fundraisers and equipment drives underway here in the states and are working to establish some partnerships with domestic teams. Stay tuned for updates on all of these fronts!