By Emmerson Campbell
An extra time goal by Daniel Favourite of Back Circle (Team Guyana) sent the crowd on the National Cultural Centre Tarmac into a frenzy and booked the team’s place in the semi-finals of the Guinness Greatest of the Streets Competition tomorrow night.
After Back Circle’s two-game winning streak was snapped by Albouystown last Saturday night, the ball weavers from East Ruimveldt got back to their winning ways on Tuesday night by defeating Tiger Bay 2 goals to 1.
Favourite’s extra time goal in the 35th minute came after both teams were deadlocked after regulation time.
Favourite’s teammate Vincent Thomas put Guyana’s representative for the inaugural Guinness Caribbean Street Football Challenge up 1-nil after he found the back of the net after 16 minutes of action but that was answered six minutes later as Tiger Bay equalized, thanks to Kwame Gravesande.
Both teams squandered several opportunities to improve their score line and subsequently went to overtime to set up Favourite’s heroics.
Other winning teams on Tuesday night which booked their places in the semi-finals tomorrow night at the same venue were Albouystown, Island All Stars and D’Urban Street.
Albouystown which has been unstoppable in the competition so far demolished Broad Street 3 goals to nil. A double by Alpha United striker Andrew Murray (12th and 17th minutes) and a goal off the boot of Shaka John (28th minute) completed Albouystown’s drubbing of Broad Street.
Murray has scored in each of Albouystown’s four games.
Orson McCurdy also recorded a double (20th and 27th minutes) to keep the Island All Stars shining. Along with McCurdy’s strikes, Eusi Phillips’ opening goal in the fifth minute enabled the All Stars to secure their three-one win over West Front Road.
Stellan David’s goal one minute before the final whistle prevented West Front Road from going scoreless.
After goals by Shem Porter in the 16th minute and Jamal Hunte one minute later for their teams, Alexander Village and D’Urban Street respectively, both teams failed to score for the rest of regulation and extra time. When extra time expired, penalty kicks had to be taken to determine the winner. D’Urban Street held their nerve to outlast Alexander Village 3-2 in the penalty shootout.
In the first semi-final match tomorrow night D’Urban Street will tackle Back Circle (Team Guyana) at 20:00hrs while the Island All Stars will take on the unbeaten Albouystown team at 20:45 hrs.
The third place match will be played at 22:15 hrs followed by the final one hour later.
Admission to the event is free.
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. 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.
