It was a trial by fire this weekend for the new Humboldt Adult Men’s Soccer Team at the Saskatoon World Cup tournament.

“We got better every game,” manager Jesse Schwartz said. “The first game was really tough when we were against a highly seeded First Nations team. I think we competed very well with them, and we learned a lot about the tournament and where we had to be in the next games.

“As the tournament progressed we kept getting better and better and we ended up losing out last game 3-1, which was a very good game and the guys played really well. It was a lot of fun.”

The World Cup consists of teams with backgrounds from different countries. The Humboldt squad, which just formed this year, entered as a second Team Canada, which the tournament has never had before.

Humboldt ended up with a record of 0-3 but the players had a blast, Schwartz said. They learned about the level of competition in the province, and that they’d need more practices and games under their belt to play better as a team.

“When you get into the dressing room after the games, there's a lot of smiles even after a couple tough battles. But the guys really had a good time, there was a lot of camaraderie there.”

The team is the idea of longtime local coach Clifton Vythilingum, who felt soccer shouldn't end after a player turns 20. The players range in age from 15 to 56.

The team plans to keep playing throughout the summer and enter more tournaments next winter.