‘One Guyana’ King & Queen of Sand Football Semis on Sunday

– Speightland, GDF, Iconic Strikers, Hururu; Spaniards, Goal IQ, Hard Knocks, and LA Ballers to clash

Fans are in for a potentially mouth-watering evening of football come Sunday night when the semi-finals of the third edition of the ‘One Guyana’ Kings and Queens of the Sand football championships are contested at the People’s Progressive Party ground in the Bauxite Mining Town of Linden.

The team competing for honour

While a new male champion team would be crowned in this third edition of the championship, defending female champions, Speightland, will be severely tested in their semi-final against the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), which has been very dominant in group matches, ending as the top team in Group A with three wins from as many matches; their opponent had to settle for the runner-up position in Group B.
The GDF, whilst conceding one goal more than Speightland, has scored the most goals of any of the four teams contesting the semis, 21. Speightland is next with 15, conceding 2 to the GDF’s 3. This match will be fiercely contested, with the winner earning the right to contest the final, which has $800,000 as the winner’s prize.

Fans at one of the games

The next clash between Iconic Strikers, winner of Group B with an unblemished record of three wins, and Hururu, runner-up in Group A, will see the former starting as huge favourites to advance to the championship match.
Iconic Strikers has conceded just a single goal in their three matches, scoring 14, while Hururu has conceded the most, 11, whilst only scoring 9 goals. Unless there is a great change in the offensive and defensive fortunes for Hururu, Iconic Strikers are certain of advancing.
On the men’s side of the divide, the LA Ballers v Hardknocks final match of the night will be a humdinger of a faceoff. LA Ballers will start as the odds-on favourite to win, having scored 43 goals in group and quarterfinal matches and conceding just 7 times, and are the only undefeated team of the last four male teams; with five out of five, they topped Group A.
Hardknocks, though, cannot be underestimated, as they too ended at the top of Group ‘C’ with three wins and a loss, then won their quarterfinal game, for a combined 30 goals and being scored upon 14 times.
They have been hardened from their matches so far and will be fearless in the main event of the night on Sunday, knowing that a place in the final is at stake and a chance to pocket 1.5 million.
The other semifinal, Spaniards v Goal IQ, the main supporting match, is billed to be another action-packed showdown between two teams boasting three wins and a loss apiece in the group stage and a quarterfinal win each.
Spaniards have netted 17 times whilst conceding 7; Goal IQ has fired in 15 goals and took 8, which shows the almost neck-and-neck stats by these two sides. What will make the difference in this clash will be the defensive fortitude of each team whilst also being clinical in the final third.
The opening match on Sunday night will be a junior queens affair between Mackenzie High School and Multilateral from 18:30hrs.