There will be no second chances beginning today when the Milo Schools’ Under-18 football tournament heads into the Round of 16. The knockout stages of any tournament always ups the excitement and no different is expected at the Ministry of Education (MoE) Ground this weekend.
Thus far in the competition, only three schools have maintained a perfect record – Chase’s Academic Foundation, West Ruimveldt Secondary and Waramuri Primary Top. And as expected, these teams have an eye on the 10th edition championship trophy.
Chase’s Academic Foundation Captain Bryan Wharton while sharing that his team had no point to prove, was confident that they could win it all.
“We’ve been putting out the work in training sessions, so we’ve been getting the results. We ain’t got no point to prove, but just come out and working harder. It’s kind of a whole different set of players,” Wharton shared with Guyana Times Sport.
He added, “Challenging, you know, because a lot of the players aren’t in like a club to train, but everybody is coming out and giving a hundred percent.”
“Yeah, for sure,” Chase’s Captain confidently responded to inquiries about whether or not his team can go all the way.
A glimpse of what to expect in the Milo U18 Round of 16 this weekend
For West Ruimveldt Secondary, who are now making their ascension among school football teams, Coach Leon Bishop says a lot of hard work went into their preparation with winning being their goal.
Coach Bishop explained, “Well, we put a lot of work into it on the pitch. I think we’ve been training for this tournament, probably for two months now and the guys, after last year’s performance, they understand that we have to do better and they came out and they work hard and the success is showing through in the group stage. But we know it’s not done as yet.”
“Good football, hard football. We play as a team and we try our hardest to ensure that we get the title which is something that we want to do,” the optimistic Bishops added.
The new Region One team on the block, Waramuri Primary Top have a lot of expectations to live up to, but according to Captain Odell Holmes, their one goal is to win.
“Well, it’s been very good for us. This is our first time taking part in the Milo competition and I think it’s very good for us. We learned from that Digicel game we played last year and we improved a lot from that match,” Holmes related about the team’s series of first experiences.
The Waramuri Captain further stated, “You can expect a good thing from us ‘cause we came here for one purpose and that’s to win.”
The Milo Round of 16 action will kick-off at 12:30h today at the MoE Ground, with a clash between Leonora and Bartica Secondary School. At 14:30h, Chase’s Academic Foundation will take on The Bishops’ High School while at 16:00s, Dolphin Secondary and Queen’s College will do battle. The curtains will come down on day one of the Round of 16, as South and East Ruimveldt Secondary Schools go head-to-head.
The teams are battling for a $400,000 grand prize that will go towards a school project of the winners’ choice.
