Goal-den oldies are on top of the world

Unfair pressure

"I feel nimble. This is the lightest I have been since my first child in 1987," Cheruiyot said, adjusting the blue headwrap covering her graying hair.

At 52, she is a youngster within her team, the oldest player of which — Elizabeth Talaa — is 87.

The idea for the tournament arose in 2007 as a way to improve the health of local women, said founder Rebecca Ntsanwisi, 57, who is fondly called Mama Beka.

It came out of her sense of personal challenge following a cancer diagnosis that once bound her to a wheelchair.

"The older women need to come together and enjoy. We are neglected," she told reporters outside the home where she lives with her ageing parents.

She hopes to host the next tournament in Kenya in 2027.

In South Africa alone, almost 40 percent of children live in households headed by their grandparents, according to government statistics.

This is mainly attributed to poverty, cultural traditions and urban migration.

But grandmothers should not be saddled with the responsibility of raising their grandchildren, Ntsanwisi said.

"This is our time to enjoy and relax," she said.

"I will die knowing that I did something."

Chris Matson, 67, took the advice to heart, and traveled from the US determined to "enjoy every second of the tournament".

"I did not play when I was little, so to do it now is wonderful," said the bubbly goalkeeper for the winning American New England Breakers team, who also took the golden glove.

"I have something precious to take home," she told reporters, cradling her first ever trophy.