MCYS/ANSA McAL June Madness Futsal…: Semi-final showdowns on tonight

…men’s finalists to be decided

The teams earning the right to battle for the top prize of $2 million will be formalised tonight when the semi-finals of the June Madness Futsal championship are contested at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Forty-eight teams commenced the quest to be the best in this inaugural edition of the June Madness championship and it’s now down to the real business end of the action. All the hard work will pay the requisite dividends as only one team will end as the best and have bragging rights for the next year.
In the line-up with just two games to lifting the championship trophy and the cheque are Road Warriors who will battle Gold Is Money in the first semi, with Sparta Boss tackling Back Circle A in the second.
Back Circle have scored the second highest number of goals in their three matches so far – 21 and have conceded four. Their level of efficiency on the offensive end is more than double their opponents, Sparta, who have scored 10 goals whilst conceding six.
From that perspective alone, Back Circle will start as favourites to move on to the championship game but for this to become reality, the likes of Chris Macey, Simeon Moore, Cecil Jackman, Darren Benjamin, Stephon Reynolds, Ravin Naughton, Fabian Abrams, Amos Ramsey and goalkeeper Azriel Davis, will all have to come to the party in some way, shape, or form.
Back Circle A’s Darren Benjamin told Guyana Times Sport about their quarter-final and tonight’s semis, “You know, we come with hard work, dedication, wasn’t an easy game but we come out successful.”
“We real excited, but we have to work ‘cause they have four good team leave,” Benjamin went on to add.
Sparta boast a formidable line-up of current and former national players in their armoury, and while they have not been very convincing in their three wins to date, they certainly know how to win when it matters.
The likes of Curtez Kellman, who has scored in every game; talisman Jermain “Panky” Junor, Ryan “Bum” Hacket, Kelsey Benjamin, Nicholas McArthur, Jobe Caesar, Darron Niles and the reliable goalie, Omar Jones, will have to combine in a rock- solid way to deny Back Circle.
Kellman, in reflecting on their quarter-final, stated “It was a good game. We know North East is a very good team; they always come out with a fighting spirit in each tournament and any team, once they coming against Sparta Boss, they always come out to play their best. So, we were well-focused tonight, we got indiscipline in the end, but we capitalised and scored the goals and got the victory.”
The Golden Jaguars international then turned his attention to the semis, “I would always tell Sparta Boss fans to come out and support us. You know, it’s going to be a very good game coming against our rivals Back Circle. We just have to continue focus and be strong mentally, so we could go in the game and come out victorious.”
The other matchup features a very offensive-minded Road Warriors unit that has scored a total of 27 goals in their three matches whilst letting in four goals, taking on the mean Gold Is Money who have scored the least goals of the four semi-finalists – nine, but they have also conceded the least – just two.
This is the perfect match-up between offence and defence and fans are in for a mouthwatering shindig.
Following their massive opening win by a 16-0 margin, the Road Warriors’ potency in offence has dipped as their second match ended 7-1 and their third, a very close 4-3. This might be good news for Gold Is Money whose technical staff would have been studying the Brazilians’ style of play and will have to come up with a strategy to counter them.
Gold Is Money’s Jamal Pedro shared about their clash with Bomb Squad, “I think what Bomb Squad lacked is the cohesiveness. Gold Is Money been playing together for a while now, we got the cohesiveness and an understanding with each other. That is what contributed to us coming out victorious.”
He moved on to the anticipated encounter with Road Warriors, sharing, “So, Gold Is Money plays one way: possession football, pass, move. We’re experienced and we would’ve played against Road Warriors in the previous Kashif and Shanghai tournament, so this game we’re coming out hungry, looking to come out victorious. We would like for all of our supporters to come out, support Gold Is Money and come enjoy some football.”
The likes of Road Warriors’ Luis Da Silva, who has the most goals of all players; Matheus De Souza; Arckson Andreazza; Wendrecky De Souza; Ricardo Silva and company will have to be mindful of the almost airtight defence of the Gold Is Money team.
They’ll be spearheaded by the Pedro brothers, Jamal and Hubert, elder statesman William Europe, Randolph Wagner, Dextroy Adams, Stephon Jupiter, the youthful Bryan Wharton and the most efficient custodian to date, Joel Yhap.
The respective winners will battle in Saturday night’s final with the biggest prize money in futsal at stake, $2 million for the winner and $1 million for the loser. The third-place winner will be rewarded with $500,000 while fourth place is valued $250,000.
Preceding the semis tomorrow will be a masters match between Linden All Stars and the GT Masters, the winner will clash with another city team on Saturday when there will be $100,000 and $50,000 at stake for the winner and loser.
And, the female segment of the June Madness championship will also continue this evening from 20:00h when Lady Canaimas seek to win their second match against Pouderoyen Females. The other game will see The Lioness facing Tucville Terrorists.