Bartica, GT lead group stage after week 3 of GFF Inter-Academy Boys’ U13 Challenge Trophy

The Bartica Football Association’s Academy Training Centre (ATC) U13 Boys Team have beaten their Rupununi counterparts to climb to the top of Group A of the Guyana Football Federation’s (GFF’s) Inter-Academy Boys’ U13 Challenge Trophy.

This was done last weekend, when the Georgetown team’s victory over their Upper Demerara counterparts ensured they hold on to pole position in Group B.
The 3-1 away win for Bartica on November 6, with a brace from Michael Joseph making all the difference after Rockcliff Adamson’s opening strike was cancelled out by Rupununi’s Josh Glasgow, took their tally to six points from their first three games.

The result took Bartica above Group A rivals East Bank, who did not play in week three.
Saturday also saw East Coast Demerara triumph 3-0 over the competition’s guest side, the National U17 Women’s Team, at the GFF National Training Centre at Providence. Goals in that match came from Isaiah Ifill, Brandon Gonsalves and Jaden Harris.
That result had given East Coast temporary bragging rights at the top of Group B, before Georgetown’s slim 1-0 win over Upper Demerara on November 7, courtesy of an early Omarion Lewis strike, put the capital city team back in first place on goal difference.
In Sunday’s second game, a goal from Mickel Castello shortly after the half-time break gave West Demerara their first win of the new youth development competition, as they beat Essequibo/Pomeroon at Leonora in a closely-fought match to go level with East Bank in joint second place in Group A.
The U13 boys’ tournament is part of the GFF’s ground-breaking ATC programme, the first of its kind in the Caribbean. This programme was launched in 2017.
The ATC is an elite and selective national youth development programme that gives girls and boys between the ages of 6 and 19 years a weekly, structured training curriculum that is anchored in the GFF football philosophy and delivered consistently throughout the GFF’s nine regional associations.
The competition involves all nine associations, with teams coming from their respective U13 ATC groups playing alongside the domestic-based National U17 Women’s Team, who participate as a guest side. A primary purpose of the tournament is to identify players to participate in the Caribbean Football Union Boys’ U14 Challenge Series in 2022.
On Saturday, November 13, in Group A, Bartica take on West Demerara at 1 pm at the Bartica Community Centre Ground, and Essequibo/ Pomeroon play East Bank at a venue to be confirmed. In Group B, on Sunday, November 14, Upper Demerara face the domestic-based National U17 Women’s Team, while Berbice go up against East Coast Demerara.
Apart from talent identification for the upcoming CFU tournament, the U13 tournament provides opportunity for the GFF to assess the quality of work being carried out by the ATCs in all nine associations, and to test logistics for future inter-academy and intra-association tournaments, which will be a key feature of the 2022 national football season.