All roads will lead to the Georgetown Football Club (GFC) ground tonight for what is expected to be one of the most intriguing nights of the Mayor’s Cup Football tournament.
Come tonight, the four top teams will collide in two semi-final matches for a chance to win the final.
This tournament has seen renewed spectator interest and tonight’s matches are expected to attract a full house simply because of the teams who will be on display and the turn out of their expected huge fan base.
In the first semifinal Alpha United will clash with Sunburst Camptown from 6pm. The evening’s proceedings will wrap up with Pele and Fruta Conquerors Football Clubs locking horns from 8pm.
This double header is also reminiscent of the 2010/2011 Kashif and Shanghai semifinals where Alpha and Pele won against Conquerors and Camptown respectively to progress to that final.
However, speaking to the coaches from the Sunburst Camptown and Fruta Conquerors teams, they are not ruling out a victory against Guyana’s two top football sides.
The defending champions the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) exited the tournament Wednesday night when they were defeated by Fruta Conquerors while Sunburst Camptown sank Western Tiger hopes and title quest in the other quarterfinal match. Speaking to Camptown’s coach Bill Wilson he said his team was preparing for the encounter like any other football game.
“We have been preparing as we should, had a bit of rainfall that affected us but we are working. We struggled in our first two games because we were not well prepared but we are working on our finishing because we have been throwing away a lot of opportunities,” Wilson stated.
He added that their strengths will be working for each other and getting forward and supporting each other.
Camptown takes on the dangerous Pele squad that will be led by midfielder and captain Travis ‘Zorro’ Grant with the experienced Konata Manning also in midfield.
They have former national captain Charles ‘Lily’ Pollard commanding the defence while Sheldon Holder and Marvin Joseph will spearhead the attack. Fruta Conquerors’ coach Sampson Gilbert was very confident his charges will perform well in their feature showdown tonight. Gilbert said his squad likes to impose its will upon the opponent and make them play the way that they want them to.
He said they haven’t been playing as well as they should but their performance still got them to the semifinal and they have been working to collectively progress.
On the other hand, there is not much to be said about Alpha United that has not already been written or spoken. The side includes a host of national players with a wealth of experience who show their class time and time again to bring their team a lot of success.
They recently won the 2010/2011 Kashif and Shanghai Football extravaganza and displayed a tremendous amount of form in their first two matches of the Mayor’s Cup which they relentlessly dominated.
