Final: Eagles 1 X 3 São Bernardo

We praise God for this final game of the tournament. Although we didn’t win the game, we believe that God was glorified through the loss. Our team’s attitudes and actions displayed the hope that lives inside them, and because of that, a great platform was set for them to share the gospel message after the game.

Our little team played their hearts out, but Sao Bernardo is a very talented team, and they clearly played better soccer than we did today. We had four starters on the field who couldn’t even practice the day before because they were so sick, and even though they couldn’t breath in the first half, they somehow found new strength in the second half and created a lot of opportunities. We did put one in the net towards the end of the game, and we had at least two other shots snatched from the upper 90 by their 6 ft tall keeper! What a rip off!

After the game we shared the wordless book bracelets with the entire other team, and their staff. It is such an amazing opportunity created through this environment of soccer to explain God’s love to people who do not yet know Christ and who have not yet been to a church or had an opportunity to hear God’s plan for Salvation.

Every time we have shared the gospel message after a game, there have been a couple of players from the other team who prayed to receive Christ as their Savior.

Our players are so on fire to share the gospel that they even took the opportunity to pray with one of the ball boys!

Please keep praying for us, as we have to turn around now and start a new tournament this coming week. This tournament will only last 5 days maximum, if we go all the way to the final. Our first games are Tuesday July 21st and Wednesday the 22^nd. It will be especially challenging for our team, because we only have 3 subs and have a game each day, with no rest days in-between. We are excited about the opportunity to play against teams we have not yet encountered, and for the chance to speak to players that have not yet heard the good news.

Please pray for the strength and health of our team!

We won 2-0!!

God has given us another victory on and off the field. Wednesday we won our semi-final game against Palmeiras 2-0. This game was a real test for our girls, and a true testimony to God’s power. The referee was extremely one sided, to the advantage of the other team, and our players handled it extremely well. It was awesome to hear their comments to one another after the game, and their amazement at the change that has taken place in their lives. If they were in this situation even a year ago, they would have been screaming or cursing at the ref and committing harder fouls against the other team out of shear frustration. But now, they were able to stay calm, ask God to give them self-control, and just continue playing with joy.

We will be facing Sao Bernardo in the finals next Wednesday. Please join us in praying for continued success on the field so that we will have a platform to speak of the hope that is within us.

Playoffs!!

With a record of 5-0-2 we are going to the playoffs! We ended up in second place overall in the tournament which is quite a blessing for a brand new team that has only been training together for a few months, and with only 15 players! We give all the glory and honor to God because we know that none of the success that we are having on the field has come from us, or our strength. Praise God that He uses the small and the weak things of the world to do great things for His name!

The Santos team easily qualified for the first place spot going into the playoffs. However, this week they asked the tournament director to change the dates of the semi-finals and finals until late August, as they have some players going to take part in Brazil’s National team training camp which will take place the same week as these semi-final matches. Their request was denied, and in response, Santos opted to drop out of the playoffs completely. Because of their decision, we have been moved up to the first place spot, and Palmeiras, the team that finished in 5^th place overall, has been granted a spot in the semi-finals, and we will play against them tomorrow.

Please keep us in your prayers, that God would continue to use us to do great things!

Eagles Brasil 1 X 1 Santos

We praise God for this challenging game against Santos, one of the best women’s soccer teams in Brazil. Our team played with valiance, even to the point of giving blood, literally.

In the picture Lilian, one of our center backs, is showing off her cut lip.

In the beginning of the game she took a ball to the mouth, as she was charging forward to block a shot, and the impact caused the inside of her lip to get caught in her braces. She had to leave the field, because her mouth was bleeding everywhere. We had to play a man down for about 10 minutes as the doctor tried to stop the bleeding. She returned to play in the game, with both of her lips swollen so much that she couldn't pronounce words, and had a cotton gauze pad wedged just inside of her bottom lip! It was not very funny during the game, but afterwards we all got quite a laugh.

Laura Armstrong, our goalkeeper from the Charlotte Eagles, had this to say about the game:

“After each game we pray with the other team, then we are able to share the gospel individually with a player from the other team. We have been using “evangelism cards” from our local church which explain the gospel in a simple yet interesting manner. During this time I have been observing my teammates share God’s plan of salvation, pray with the girls from the other team, and even exchange hugs as if they have been friends for years. Unfortunately, I have not been able to participate that much since I don’t speak Portuguese, but it has been an awesome time to pray for my teammates and the player that they are sharing with, as well as to see God at work right there on the field. In our last game against Santos I was finally able to share my faith after the game because they have a player from Iceland that speaks English. It was a great experience for me as I was able to share a little bit about what God has done in my life. It is awesome to see how the game of soccer brings together so many different cultures and allows us to find common ground and just share our experiences and beliefs with one another.”