Flamingo and Uprising Football Clubs will battle for top honours after flatten their opponents to enter the final of the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sports/Georgetown Football Association (GFA) Guinness Futsal Competition on Wednesday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Prior to the two semi-final showdowns, Elion Church defeated Network Deliverance 4 – 2 the GT&T team played to a draw with Media Team 2 – 2 and Banks and Caribs played to a 3 – 3 draw.
Flamingo beat Pele 6 – 5 in a nail-biting encounter that had the spectators at the edge of their seats throughout the entire half hour of action while the Uprising sank the Fruta Conquerors team 8 – 5 in the other semi.
Doubles from the dynamic Leon Yaw and Orin Peters helped Flamingo book the first spot in the final and have a shot at the $300,000 top prize.
Thrills and spills spread throughout the venue as every pass near goal from any team caused uproars from the expectant crowd. Pele found themselves on the back-foot after being blown for numerous foul calls which ended up in the opposition receiving a few ten-yard penalty kicks which helped the opposition tremendously.
They were further pushed back when Travis ‘Zorro’ Grant was ejected from the game.
Flamingo was the first to score in the 13th minute when Orin Peters found the back of the net then it was answered on the brink of half time (15th) when Gerald Whittington scored for Pele.
When the second half resumed, Flamingo regained the lead when Yaw struck in the 16th minute and were drawn back as Shemroy Arthur equalized for Pele the very next minute.
Three quick goals came in succession for the eventual victors, Deon Allen the 20th, Yaw – 21st and Peters 23rd.
Troy Kellman scored for Pele in the 23rd as Pele trailed by two goals (5 – 3), Quincy Browne scored Flamingo’s final goal in the 25th minute to take them to six then Pele made a desperate attempt to equalize with the time running out.
Solomon Austin scored in the 26th and Arthur in the 28th taking the score line to 6 – 5 with two minutes remaining. At this time Flamingo was contented to defend their one goal lead to the end to secure their spot in the final.
Led by a second half Omali Nassay helmet-trick, Uprising was propelled into the final by a comfortable margin.
Early goals from O’Reilly Small (3rd) and Daniel Favourite (5th) gave Uprising the lead before Gerald Grittens scored in the ninth and the first half concluded 2 – 1.
The second half saw Conquerors equalizing in the 19th before Uprising regained the lead when Nassay and Favourite scored in the 22nd and 26th minutes.
Nassay went on to score in the 28th and twice in the 29th and his team mate Jermaine John scored in final minute (30th) to take them to eight goals while for Lester Peters, Sheldon Shepherd and Odel Williams all scored in the 29th minute for Conquerors but to no avail.
