More Important Than Victory: CGM Holds Five-a-side Soccer Promotion Competition

March 21, 2015

2015 has been a very significant year for Taiwanese soccer. It was the first time that the men’s soccer team qualified to play in the second round at the FIFA World Cup. The female’s soccer team has also done well in the Brazil Olympics qualifying tournament. Taiwan is looking forward to hosting more international soccer competitions. Minister, Chun-yen Yang, who has been promoting soccer in Taiwan gave an opening speech, saying, “Do not think these events are insignificant. They carry out the Will of God and they symbolize the precious working of God. We should not treat soccer only as a kind of sport; God gives many precious teachings via soccer. We should learn about faith and life through playing soccer. We should even display the thoughts and mentality that we have learned from soccer in our daily lives to unleash their greatest value.

On the day of the competition, nearly 70 soccer players from all over Taiwan gathered in Taichung’s Dasin Elementary School. They not only learned from each other through the competition, but also offered a Soccer Service throughout the day. Five-a-side soccer is a fast-paced game. However, what is much more difficult is to maintain “love and peace” throughout playing the intense game, and to focus on a higher mentality which is to “do your best without hurting your brothers.” This is a big challenge for players who have gotten used to competitive sports.

There are currently 209 FIFA members, indicating the big influence of soccer in world sports. However, being overly competitive makes soccer go off track from its fundamental purpose, causing many strange effects. The true spirit of soccer has also become blurred. Director, Pastor Jung Myung Seok, used to say, “The soccer of love and peace is the soccer culture with the fragrance of Christ. It is about developing our individualities, cooperating with each other, loving our brothers and challenging one selves in order to give glory to God.” He also mentioned, “When you feel your body is reaching its limit and unable to overcome, you should call out to the Lord on the field. You should plead to the Lord to give you strength so that you could run until the end without giving up.”

The finals were played by the two teams from CGM’s Life Church at Taichung and CGM’s Canaan Church at Hsinchu. The goaltenders of both sides tried their best to defend and successfully blocked many attempts. After 25 minutes of struggle, the game ended in a 2-2 draw, and for the first time in history, the winner would be decided via a shootout.  In the last minute of the game, the goal keeper from Canaan Church put his life on the line to block two goals, which led CGMS’s Canaan Church at Hsinchu to a 4-1 victory and earned them the championship title for this five-a-side soccer promotion competition. The sports team leader, Yu-chen Lin, from Canaan’s Church testified, “We have prepared for a long time for this competition. The more the members practiced, the more they gained the sense of achievement and raised their level. Thanks be to God that more new friends joined us during the practice and that they also liked soccer more. The atmosphere of our soccer team is becoming more and more harmonious.”

This competition is the prologue for this year - the Year of Soccer, and coming up next is the Soccer League National Competition in April. This time, 30 teams including female and male teams will join the competition, which is the largest of its kind in history. We invite you to join us in experiencing the sensational soccer event.

Reported by Yu-lun Cheng ,CGM’s Good News Church