Sparta Boss, Road Warriors set for ultimate ‘June Madness’ final showdown

…Lady Canaimas & Iconic Strikers in female final

The Cliff Anderson Sports Hall was humming with intense rivalry on the court and in the stands on Tuesday night when the semi-finals of the inaugural June Madness Futsal championship were played on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

Billed as two potential humdingers, the first semi between Road Warriors and Gold Is Money ended up being a 14-goal blast that had fans on the edges of their seats and those in VIP standing to absorb the exchanges.
It ended with the Brazilian side coming back from two goals down, territory they have never been in, to defeat the game GT side, 9-5.
The feature match of the night was not as competitive as anticipated, with Sparta Boss turning in a boss-like performance, defeating Back Circle A 8-3 to earn a date with Road Warriors in what will be the perfect climax to this inaugural championship, powered by the Government of Guyana, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, and Ansa McAL.

The female final will feature Lady Canaimas and Iconic Ballers, who have won both their group matches to set up what will also be an intriguing finale.
Sparta’s dominant display was orchestrated by the consistent and fit Curtez Kellman, who recorded a hat-trick, but most importantly, he has scored in all the matches they have played to date in this competition and will no doubt be a critical component in Saturday’s final.
Kellman, who has now moved to eight (8) goals in the competition, just one behind the leader, Luis Da Silva of Road Warriors, scored in the 5th, 7th, 15th, and 32nd minutes. Nicholas McArthur netted his first goals of the competition, being on target in the 22nd and 39th minutes.
Darren Niles also scored his first goal of the championship to add to Sparta’s tally in the 24th minute, whilst Kelsey Benjamin scored his third overall when he closed out Sparta’s account in the 40th minute.
After being five goals down, Back Circle requested the yellow ball, and it paid immediate dividends as Chris Macey finally broke their goal jinx, the double taking him to five goals overall. Many near misses summed up Back Circle A’s performance; they were also hamstrung because one of their more dominant players, Simeon Moore, was nursing an injury. His presence in the game was very minimal, but when he came on, his presence helped them score with the yellow ball in the 26th minute. Their other goal came off the boot of Stephon Reynolds in the 31st minute.
Kellman later spoke with this newscast, discussing their major win and plans for the final.
The Golden Jaguar international shared about his team’s performance, “It was a very good game. You know, before the game we always have a plan, and we came out and worked towards our game plan, and that’s what made us successful tonight.”
Winning by a larger margin after several close games, Kellman noted, “As I tell the group, each game we were growing. It was very close in the first two games, but in the quarterfinal game we had a very good first half, so I told the group that each game we’re growing and gaining momentum. This game, we did well for the full time, so it’s only a matter of growing and remaining consistent.”
“First of all, congratulations to the opposition for making it into the final. We will continue to work and stick to our game plan, Sparta Boss’ style of play. We will not change our game style to suit anybody, but we will work to our plan, come out in the final and hopefully become victorious.” Kellman told this publication about Saturday’s final.
The match of the night, however, was the first semi-final. For the first time, Road Warriors found themselves in real trouble with Gold Is Money racing to a 2-0 advantage by the 9th minute, Randolph Wagner rocking the nets in the 8th and 9th much to the delight of the fans.
The energy was high-octane, and the action was end-to-end. With each half being 20 minutes of stoppage time, it will always be an uphill task to defend slim advantages. Fitness and focus will always prevail.
It was the 13th minute that Duarte Dos Santos scored the first for Road Warriors, but split seconds later, Wagner netted the third of his four goals to restore the three-goal cushion. Back-to-back goals from Wendrecky De Souza in the 16th and 17th minutes drew Road Warriors level at 3-3, and one minute later, they took the lead for the first time with Arckson Andreazza’s goal.
It was game on, and thereafter, whilst the exchanges continued at a breath-taking pace, the visiting team gradually wrested the initiative and started dominating as they are accustomed to. After the break, where they had held a slim advantage, Dos Santos doubled the lead to 5-3, scoring in the 23rd minute.
But Shomar Koulen hit back for Gold Is Money in the 24th, and Wagner completed his helmet trick one minute later to lock the score at 5-5. Such was the epic nature of this battle that fans could have hardly settled to absorb what was taking place as the goals just kept coming.
From this point though, Road Warriors pulled away from their opponents as they fired in four unanswered goals to book their place in the championship match, which will see the winner being rewarded with two million dollars and the loser, one million.

Joao De Souza (26th), Luis De Silva (29th), Jamal Pedro (35th) with an own goal and Dos Santos with his third in the 40th minute sealed Gold Is Money’s fate; they will face Back Circle in the third-place game, with the winner guaranteed $500,000 and the loser $250,000.
Following the first semi, Road Warriors’ Peter Atkinson discussed their semi-final comeback and excitement for the final.
“It was very difficult at first, but we had to keep going. In the second half, we went on back with more energy; all the teammates, we worked hard and got through with the win. We’re ready to go to the finals now and win the trophy. We come to win; we didn’t come to play,” Atkinson expressed.
He said about his thoughts during the game, “It was hard at first; I thought we would have lost already, but we came back in the game with more energy.”
“We just gotta come out here, focus on our game, put in some work and training, and we have to keep going. We got to win this final,” the Road Warriors player went on to share about the upcoming main event.
The lone female game ended in victory for The Lioness 5-0 over Tucville Terrorists, with Amanda McKenzie netting in the 3rd, 10th, 13th, 14th and 18th minutes. The game was only for academic purposes, as the finalists would have already been decided. Lady Canaimas gained a walkover from Pouderoyen Females, which handed them their second win in as many matches.
There was an exhibition game between GT Masters and Gladiators; the former won, 2-0.