Back Circle’s (Team Guyana) two-game winning streak was snapped on Saturday night at the new Albouystown Basketball Court, after they were defeated three goals to one by Albouystown.
On the third night of the Guinness Greatest of the Streets Exhibition Competition, Albouystown took full advantage of their home court and crowd support to put away Guyana’s representative for the inaugural Guinness Caribbean Street Football Challenge.
A double by Shaka John (18th and 28th minute) followed up a strike by Alpha United striker Andrew Murray Jr. (fourth minute) to complete Albouystown’s victory and their unbeaten run after three games. Bertie Pedro netted the lone goal for Back Circle (17th minute).
Other winners of the night included Island All Stars, West Front Road and Tiger Bay.
Island All Stars demolished the winless D’Urban Street side three goals to nil after a double by Kevin Phillips (7th and 17th minute) followed up Orson McCurdy’s 6th minute strike.
West Front Road came from behind to edge out Broad Street two goals to one. The two Michaels, Michael Oie and Michael Pedro scored for West Front Road (ninth and 19th minute), while Devon Adams netted for Broad Street in the sixth minute.
A goal by Deon Alfred for Tiger Bay in the ninth minute was enough to earn a one-nil victory over Alexander Village which squandered several chances to score.
The knockout round will continue tomorrow night at the National Cultural Centre tarmac followed by the final on Friday night at the same venue.
Tomorrow night, Alexander Village will tackle D’Urban Street at 20:00hrs, Broad Street will take on Albouystown at 20:45 hrs, West Front Road will face Island All Stars at 21:30 hrs and Back Circle will look to bounce back when they take on Tiger Bay at 22:15 hrs.
The winner of the competition will take home $200,000 and a trophy while the second place team will receive $100,000, third place $50,000 and fourth place $25,000. The remaining four teams will take home $15,000 each. Admission to each game is free.
Team Guyana (Back Circle) is using the five-night exhibition tournament as a warm-up for the lucrative Caribbean Street Football Challenge which commences on June 21 on the National Park tarmac.
Team Guyana (Back Circle), which won the last Guinness Greatest of the Streets Football competition, will tackle other winners of the same tournament from Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, St Lucia, St Vincent and Antigua during the three-night event.
The winner of the Caribbean Street Football challenge will receive US$4,000, a multi-purpose playing facility and bragging rights as the best street football team in the Caribbean.
After a round-robin preliminary format, the top four teams will qualify for the semi-finals. The winners will do battle in the final game which will be staged on June 23. The first, second and third runners-up will receive US$2,000, US$1,500 and US$1,000 respectively.
