An unruly and stubborn crowd ruined a memorable night of futsal at the National Gymnasium on Saturday night at the final of the GT Beer sponsored “Keep Your Five Alive” futsal tournament.
The footballing encounter between the young Future Stars and the experienced West Front Road- Gold is Money in the final was one for the ages as penalty kicks was required after normal time and extra time failed to produce a winner.
The young Chase Academy captain Jeremy Garrett who plays for Future Stars and is known for his thunderous strikes in the smaller format of the game stunned the West Front Road players when he struck from distance to give his side the lead in the 30th minute.
West Front Road-Gold is Money (left) and Future Stars (Right) before the kick-off of the GT Beer Keep Your Five Alive Final
However Garrett was not finished as he produced another stunning strike in the 35th minute to leave the opposition in disbelief.
This however spurred West Front Road into action and it was none other than Jamal Pedro who responded with two quick goals to leave the crowd in an uproar.
Pedro nailed his brace of goals in the 37th and 42nd minute to draw his side level with the young upstarts; it was a script that could not be written nor predicted.
Randolph Wagner was the next player to get his name on the score-sheet as he scored with the clock at 48 minutes to give West Front Road some breathing space.
West Front Road held on to their slender lead and seemed on course for the victory with full time mere seconds away when Future Stars’ fleet- footed forward Keiron Solomon hauled his team back into contention with a goal in the 59th minute to even the score at 3-3 just as the whistle signaling full time was blown.
As the game headed into extra time (2 equal 4 minutes halves), it was Solomon in the thick of things again as he restored the lead to his team with his second goal of the match in the 62nd minute. As was the case with West Front Road earlier, it seemed as though Future Stars were on their way to winning the championship but Wagner for a second time fired in another goal (68th minute) to equalize and send the game to the lotto of penalty kicks.
It was at this point that the fans swarmed the playing area and refused to budge thus leaving the players and officials no choice but to walk out of the gymnasium with the penalty kicks evenly matched at 2 apiece.
However the organisers and team representatives met on Sunday and came to the decision to split the prize money evenly as it was $500,000 and $250,000 for the winner and the runner-up. The teams negotiated with the organisers who added $50,000 more to get a grand total of $800,000 which was divided evenly between Future Stars and West Front Road-Gold is Money.
Corporate support for the tournament was provided by HJTV, 94.1 Boom FM, Trophy Stall, Star Party Rentals, A&J Carpet House, Ravi’s Carwash (Pike Street, Kitty), Cheese Please, Colours Boutique, Confidential Cabs and the title sponsor, GT Beer.
