– Grove Hi-Tech stun Milerock
When Pele and international striker Gregory ‘Jackie Chan’ Richardson told Stabroek Sport last week that he was going to put on a show at the National Stadium, this writer and I suppose many ardent readers of the sports pages were wondering just what he was going to do.
They should have gone to Providence. I did.
On Sunday evening, the thousands of football fans who turned up at the Guyana National Stadium and the players of Santos F.C. saw firsthand exactly what `Jackie Chan’ meant.
Richardson helped his team inflict a painful 4-1 defeat on Santos when the two teams clashed in the second game of the double header in front of none other than the legendary King Pele.
The first game produced the first upset of the tournament as Milerock of Linden fell prey to newcomers Grove Hi-Tech by a one-nil margin.
However, their historical win was certainly overshadowed by Richardson and by extension Pele’s’s performance.
The display even caught the attention of the tournament’s special guest of honour; Edson Arantes do Nascimento (‘King Pele’).
An estimated crowd of just over 10,000 persons at the venue watched Pele take Santos apart from kick off and Santos’ goalkeeper O’Neil Yearwood is probably now not one of the most liked players on the team.
Richardson netted a double with his first goal coming in the eighth minute after Yearwood failed to pull down a simple ball which came from an attempted pass from Travis ‘Zorro’ Grant to Richardson in the six-yard box.
The ball actually went right through Yearwood’s gloves and landed on the chest of Richardson who easily tapped it into the goal.
It triggered more laughter than actual cheers from the crowd but what was about to happen next brought the stadium to its feet.
Richardson collected a pass from Grant just outside the 18-yard box and using some Cristiano Ronaldo like footwork, he evaded a few defenders even putting one on the ground with his dribbles before accurately placing the ball past a porous Yearwood in goal.
It was the completion of his double for the night but then the player who had become the first Guyanese to be signed to the USA’s Major League Soccer (MLS) this year with the Colorado Rapids was just getting started and brought another killer striker, Marvin Joseph into the mix.
Pele’s coach Dennis ‘Chow’ Hunte switched things up on the field and placed Joseph in the middle and Richardson on the right wing.
With Canada-based national player Konata Manning doing an excellent job in the midfield, Pele upped the tempo a notch and, with Richardson once again doing his magic, the ball found Joseph (22nd minute) inside and the rest, as they say, was history.
Three minutes later, Richardson and Joseph repeated their alliance of the previous goal but this time it was ‘Zorro’ like a true swordsman who cut two defenders on his way to help Richardson give Joseph his double.
Keen attention
The first half ended four nil and paying keen attention to the match from the VIP area was the King of Football, ‘King Pele’ who told reporters at a press conference which was held at half time, that indeed the team who was named after him was better organised than the team who was named after his first professional club Santos of Brazil.
“Ok, ok” Pele said with a chuckle in his voice, “The Pele team was better in the first half, but the game is still not finished. The Pele team was more organised and they played and passed the ball better. Both teams have some very skilful players, but like I said, the Pele team, they got the better touches.”
He added “you know, I sat there and I watched these two clubs, one named after me and one named after the club in Brazil and the world that I love very much and it filled my heart with joy. No other part in the world do they have a Pele and Santos and that I said before, made me want to come here and now I see them, I’m more than happy, it was the best part of my stay here.” Meanwhile in the second half, nothing much changed except that at the back, the Pele players slackened up once and striker Peter Parks in the 73rd minute scored their lone goal.
For Santos coach Denzel ‘Hunky Brains’ Thompson, it was a bitter exit from the tournament which ironically came from the boots of the team that he led to championship nobility last year.
In the first game, the tournament debutants Grove Hi-Tech sent the tournament’s first winners Milerock packing and their loss was more than painful.
The performance of the team that won the inaugural event in 1990 was disappointing. As a matter of fact, there was noting high about Grove’s performance although John Mathews in the 79th minute managed to score the winning goal.
If the East Bank team should carry that lacklustre performance into their next match which is against Alpha United on Saturday, they will be in for a very sad night.
For Pele, their next game will be on Boxing Day (December 26) in Linden but they will have to wait on the winner between GDF who also will have to wait to play the winner between Rusal and Seawall United and they are set to clash on Wednesday at the GCC Ground.