GUANGZHOU, China – It's been a solid start at the 2019 World Elite University Football Tournament for the UBC Thunderbirds who have posted a 2-0 record thus far with victories over both Peking University and the University of Oxford in the southwestern Chinese city of Guangzhou.
Battling travel fatigue and intense heat and humidity, the T-Birds notched a tournament opening 3-0 win over Peking University Saturday evening, led by a pair of Caleb Clarke goals.
"It was good to get the win, but we made the game a bit tougher than we might have hoped," said UBC head coach Mike Mosher following the opening victory. "We caused some trouble for them early and we had three or four grade A chances in the first 20 minutes that we needed to bury and this game would have been much easier for us. Credit to their keeper though for a few nice saves too."
Clarke opened scoring for the 'Birds in the tenth minute, finishing on a feed from Ryan Arthur. Despite the flurry of T-Bird chances early in the going, the game remained 1-0 at the half.
Veteran midfielder Sean Einarsson scored his first of the tournament early in the second half with Clarke being credited with the assist. Clarke then added some insurance with his second goal and third point of the match in the 85th minute.
After a day of recovery and training on Sunday, the 'Birds were back on the pitch Monday evening for an 8:00 p.m. local time kickoff, 5 a.m. Pacific, against the University of Oxford.
Once again the 'Birds found the back of the net early as Arthur converted in the 10th minute for his first of the tournament from
Nick Fussell. Clarke's hot play continued as he scored his third in the 39th minute for what stood up as the game winner.
The T-Birds put their 2-0 record to the test against the two-time defending tournament champions from the University of Tubingen (Germany) Wednesday when they face off in a quarter-final match. UBC faced Tubingen in the WEUFT final in 2017 where the 'Birds dropped a 2-0 decision, their only loss of the tournament.
