Flamingo Football Club, through second half goals from Thulane Mura and Devon Hyman in the 48th and 72nd minutes respectively defeated Black Pearl 3-1 as the inaugural Georgetown Football Association (GFA) Players Cup commenced at the Georgetown Football Club (GFC) ground, Bourda on Sunday.
Conceding the early lead compliments of a Rawle Andrew’s 15th minute strike to the top right hand corner, Flamingo would level proceedings through an expertly taken Mura header in the six-yard area following a perfectly weighted cross from the right flank.
Clearly a game of two halves and locked at one apiece, Hyman would give Flamingo the deserved lead through a well taken strike to the lower left hand corner that evaded the diving grasp of the Black Pearl custodian.
The contest was effectively put to bed six minutes later through a Marlon Daniels own goal in the 78th minute. Daniels, in an effort to clear his lines following a Flamingo cross into his 18-yard box, accidentally redirected the ball into his own net.
In an invited post match comment Flamingo FC Coach Maitland Stuart stated “The guys did very well with respect to not being in full fitness.
We only had one week to get ourselves together. In essence teams are supposed to be training at all times. Despite our shortcomings I am really proud of the team as they came and showed what they are made of.”
In the feature contest, Santos FC and BK Western Tigers played to a tame nil-all draw in an encounter highlighted by robust defending and a dearth of goal scoring opportunities.
The tournament which officially got underway without the traditional march past or formal ceremonial opening, contains 16 teams competing in four groups of four in a round-robin format.
Each victory is worth three points while a draw equals one point.
The respective group winners and runners-up upon the conclusion of the group stage will progress to the quarterfinal round.
Beginning with the quarterfinal stage, the GFA will institute the ‘luck of the draw’ rule. This draw which will be done at every knockout round will randomly pair teams throughout the various elimination stages right up to the tournament final.
This procedure mirrors the UEFA Champions League drawing process as teams coming out of the same group cannot be paired against each other in the quarterfinal round but can matchup from the semi-final stage onwards.
