Neal and Massy Caledonia AIA of Trinidad and Tobago and Pele secured similar 3-1 victories over Victoria Kings and Mill Ballers respectively, when action in 22nd annual Kashif and Shanghai tournament continued at the Beterverwagting Ground on Wednesday evening.
Caledonia AIA and Pele now advance to the semi-finals set for today at the National Stadium where they are expected to face Linden teams Amelia’s Ward and Milerock FC. In front of a good-sized crowd, a trio of second half goals from Marvin Joseph, Devon Millington and Gregory “Jackie Chan” Richardson helped Pele clinch a thoroughly convincing victory in the opening encounter of the night. On a slightly damp and bumpy surface which made control and prolonged possession of the ball a bit haphazard for both sides, each team struggled to stamp their authority on proceedings during the first half. Few clear-cut chances were created as the game petered out into a mid-field slug fest and they entered the interval deadlocked at 0-0.
On resumption, Pele the more experienced side playing with a hybrid 4-4-2 formation which had national strikers and mid-fielders Richardson and Millington as the front attackers along with Travis “Zorro” Grant and Konata Mannings in midfield, noticeably started to dominate their opponents from Bartica. The domination was complete when Joseph (Number 11) opened scoring in the 58th minute.
Four minutes later, totally against the run of play, Conrad Smith (Number 4) scored via some lax defending from Pele to a corner kick. This would be the only blip for Pele in the second half as for the remaining 30 minutes of play, shots rained down on the Mill Ballers goalie.
In the dying seconds of regular time with the scores 1-1, Sheldon Holder hammered a hard long-range shot that Mill Ballers goal-keeper Shane Mattis fumbled and a prowling Millington in the box scored, to make it 2-1. Then, in the 93rd, some clever close control in the box from Richardson saw him fouled and a penalty was given which he duly nailed with ease to guarantee his side’s place in the final four.
In game two, Caledonia skippered by seasoned Golden Jaguars left-back Walter Moore in circumstances similar to game 1, used their experience and superior professionalism to easily brush aside the Victoria Kings. The boys from the twin-island republic opened the scoring in the 11th minute when a brilliant long “through ball” from Moore on the left-wing was run onto by Trevon Caesar who side-footed his shot home.
Caledonia continued to dominate possession and had the Victoria Kings running around aimlessly trying to get the ball from them. They almost made it 2-0 in the 24th minute, when hat-trick hero from the last game Jamal Gay jumped and headed home powerfully via a corner kick, only to be judged off-side. With momentum totally against them, Victoria scored with the last kick off the first half, when Winston Pompey (Number 6) flicked home a right-wing cross past the outstretched hands of Zane Coker in the 46th minute, to send the sides into the interval 1-1. However, during the second period, Caledonia did not let that goal curtail their play and Gay in the 54th minute and Moore who chipped the keeper with lovely finesse in the 78th minute, completed Caledonia’s triumph.
