Tuesday June 18, 2024
Somalis here to "build bridges not walls”, and “once you get to know us we’re OK".
Somali Team in WIOC 2024 (Image: Nashwan Jaffer WIOC)
A superfan of the Somali team wants the community to "build bridges and not walls".
Yusuf Yassin is the joint manager of this year's Somali team in the World in One City Football tournament alongside Fuad Mohamed.
In its fourth year the tournament formed by Toxteth man Imad Ali is building just as much excitement as any English Premier league game, some would say there’s more. Yusuf is one of the inspirations behind the rise of the support of the Yemen team who wanted to emulate the "ferocious" support the Somali team has.
Yusuf told the Liverpool ECHO: "Everyone wants to be similar to us. Even neutral fans turn up just because of our fans.
"There's other great fans as well, like Congo, but I think we’re the best because it's organic. The chants we have sometimes are a bit rude, but that’s football for you, always trying to gain the edge, have a laugh as well and there's nothing wrong with that".
The Somali team face a clash with the 2022 winners England on June 19. The Somali Team and England have four points with Congo on two. If Congo win the Somali team have to win, as a draw would see them go out on goal difference to England.
Congo play first on June 19. Should they win, this sets up a barnstormer of a tie with the Somali Team and England.
Somali fans roar as they face the 2023 eventual tournament winners the West Indies in the semifinal (Image: Liverpool ECHO)
Yusuf said: "It will be a home game for us as the fans will be on it. I think we’re gonna win and top the group. I’m confident the fans will play their part. It's a must win game.
"I’ve spoken to players afterwards, we have a laugh and they say the fans are kind of ferocious and can knock [the other teams' players] off their game.
"We're notorious for that and when people say that to us it reinforces the fact we’ve got to keep doing it. Hopefully tomorrow it’s gonna be one of them”.
Yusuf added: "Some fans are in awe of what we’re saying. Some fans are watching us rather than watching the game".
Yusuf thinks they’re the neutral fans' favourites, he said: "I don't know why that is, I think people really really like us, because we’re funny, we support our team with unwavering support. Even when we concede a goal, the fans are always chanting, if we’re not playing well the fans are always there non-stop chanting, chanting, chanting".
Somali fans regularly chant: "We’re Somali we do what we want, we do what we want, we do what we want. We’re Somali. We do what we want".
In 2023 they made it to the semi-final. Yusuf said: "The best moment was the first year (2021) on Tiber when we had that equaliser against Yemen. They were one nil up, then Ahmed Shirrah scores the equaliser with a minute to go, a header, it was the quarter-final.
"If you could bottle that moment, it was incredible, as everyone just chased after him, even neutrals. If you could single out one goal out of the four years that's a big one”. They lost that game on penalties.
Somali Team super fan and joint manager Yusuf Yassin gives his team directions (Image: Orrell Jones WIOC)
Yusuf managed the team in 2021 and 22, was a fan in 2023 and is back as joint manager, so said he has seen it "from both angles".
He's happy the tournament has grown so managers no longer have to worry about off the field issues like getting kits and "can focus on the pitch" and said the event "brings people and nations together".
He added: "Everyone wants to win; at the end you shake hands and will have something to talk about. Imagine this wasn’t here; people would not have this kind of spectacle, it’s great for our area, great for people, it's a diverse one not excluding anyone, you can see that in the Rest of the World Team.
"As a Somali community I think sometimes people from the outside think we’re a closed off community, a hundred percent that’s not the case. We’ve been in Toxteth and the South End for the best part of 100 years and been a heartbeat and a lifeblood of the city as well as others.
"They claim that about the West African, Caribbean or the Arab community that they’re hard to reach communities. That’s not the case, they just don’t know how to speak to us.
"This is to showcase one hundred percent that we’re here to build bridges and not walls. Once you get to know us we’re OK".
Somali Team vs Congo in action in WIOC 2024 (Image: Nashwan Jaffer WIOC)