The Uprising Football Team is now $300,000 richer after carting off the top prize of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport/Georgetown Football Association (GFA) Guinness Futsal competition Saturday night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
The Uprising team defeated Flamingo 2-1 in the final following which supporters of the team invaded the playfield when the final buzzer sounded.
Flamingo pocketed the runner up prize of $150,000 while Fruta Conquerors received the third place prize of $75,000 after pulverizing Pele 6 – 2 in the third place showdown.
Pele was left with no other choice than to take home the fourth-place prize $50,000.
The players of the inaugural champions who were decked in red, owed much to Omali Nassy, whose double strike
earned him the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the final award.
Neither team was able to score in the first half even though both teams had some good passes near goal but could not manufacture the finishing touch.
Flamingo’s Leon Yaw received a blow to his right leg early in the encounter which sidelined him until the commencement of the second half. The second half was completely different from that of the first and the eventual victors drew first blood compliments of a strike from Nassy in the 26th minute which caused uproar in the venue. However, that lead did not last long as Flamingo shocked the opposition by equalizing the very next minute (27th) when Dwayne Layne shot one past the Uprising custodian.
Flamingo’s celebrations were then cut short when Nassy’s next shot on goal rocketed into the back of the net in the 28th minute.
Flamingo never recovered from that goal.
Conquerors’ Trevon Lychott recorded a second half double to help his team conquer Pele in the third place showdown.
Pele, however, took the lead as early as the third minute when Okenny Fraser found the back of the net.
Jolyon Harry with the equalizer in the ninth and Sheldon Shepherd in the 12th for Conquerors put Pele down by one goal at the conclusion of the first 15 minutes.
When play resumed, goals from Paul Bob (18th), Odel Williams (19th) and Lychott who scored in the 22nd and 25th minutes created an unassailable lead for Conquerors even though Pele’s Solomon Austin scored in the 25th minute.