Corona Futsal Tournament
Sparta Boss suffered an early upset in their title retention endeavours by suffering a painstaking loss to Tiger Bay on the high octane opening night of the Corona Futsal tournament which is collaboration with NAMILCO Wheat Gem and Hero Motorcycle.
Back Circle kept a tight lock on Broad Street throughout the evening
The sizeable audience which decked the National Gymnasium on Saturday evening had to wait until the final match for their favourites Sparta to take the floor but to much disappointment the youthful Tiger Bay had edged ahead 3-2 when the final whistle was blown.
New recruit Jeremy Garrett placed the defending champions ahead in the just the first minute of the match and Sheldon Shepherd followed two minutes later to have their team coasting but Alpha Fletchman had plans of this own and equalised the proceedings in the space of two minutes, netting in the 6th and 7th while Deon Alfred scored the match changing goal in the 19th.
Likewise, Back Circle ran rings around Broad Street in their 6-3 route which was orchestrated by Selwin Williams and Jermaine Beckles. Williams made his inroads in the 3rd and 13th while Beckles netted in the 8th and 9th minute. Additional goals came from Stephon McClean in the 5th and Runnel Gordon in the 19th.
The opposition tried to make a desperate come back with goals from Akeem Sam (14th), Shawn Mohammed (15th) and Jamaal Williams (16th).
Another close match occurred when Leopold Street and Alexander Village had to share points due to a 3-3 stalemate. Eon Allyene started the goal exchange in the 2nd for Leopold after which Trevon Thomas equalised in the 9th minute.
Leopold star player Okeenie Fraser made his mark in the 11th but was match by Shem Porter just seconds after. Omalo Williams then returned the lead to the former in the 17th but only briefly as Porter scored two minute later.
More so, Wendell St Hill’s strike for YMCA in the first minute was the only joy they gathered as they slumped to 1-3 defeat to Albouystown as Moses Griffin (3rd), Andre Webber (5th) and Melvin Rose (11th) made merry after.
The biggest margin of victory came via Future Stars who sent Campbellville Extreme back in the past with 6-0 drubbing. Goals were shared all-around as Kareem knights (7th & 9th), Curtze Kellman (9th) Akeem Anthony (11th), William Europe (13th) and Marvin Carter inflicted the route.
Another thriller for the evening came between Plaisance and Mocha and with the latter winning 5-34led by double by Steffon Ramsey (3rd & 17th) followed by Teon Jones (15th), Dellon John (3rd) and Kevin Agard (17th); on the mark for opposition were Akeem Thomas (16th & 18th), Kevin Liverpool (4th) and Denzil King (18th).
At stake for team is the winning purse of $600,000 and the championship trophy. Second to fourth will take home $300,000, $150,000 and $75,000 along with the corresponding accolades. More so, with 24 of the top teams being split into six groups of four, the battle will not be just to progress to the knock-out stages but cop the group prizes; $40,000 for first place team, $30,000, $20,000 and $10,000 will be awarded to second to fourth-place group teams.
Additionally, two Hero motor cycles will be awarded to the Most Valuable Player (MVP) and the other to a lucky spectator.
The tournament will continue on Tuesday evening with six more matches commencing from 19:00h.
