Albouystown-B stumbled into the quarterfinal round of the Guinness street football tourney by defeating Sparta Boss 5-4 on sudden death kicks in a chaotic game on Thursday.
In a fixture of the Georgetown Zone that felt like more a final, Albouystown-B thought they had broken the deadlock in the 6th minute through a Marlon Nedd right-footed effort that sent the National Cultural Centre tarmac gathering into a frenzy.
Positioned on the left side of the field, Nedd thumped his effort into what appeared to be the bottom right-hand corner of the goal, only for the conversion to be disallowed by the officials who ruled it had not crossed the goal line.
Nedd almost broke the deadlock once again in the 10th minute as he lashed his left-footed effort from the centre of the field just over the crossbar.
Repelled throughout the second period by the stout defending of Albouystown-B, the best chance of the period would fall to Sparta Boss’s Devon Millington in the 24th minute. Racing down the right flank on the counterattack, Millington would find himself in a one-on-one situation with the last Albouystown-B defender, only to strike his effort just wide of the left post as extra time beckoned.
With no victor in normal time, extra time ran quickly. Going forward primarily on the counterattack, Albouystown-B would once again have a goal disallowed as Nedd once more found the back of the net in the 29th minute.
Latching onto a rebounded strike that came crashing off the crossbar, Nedd would bury his powerful effort down the middle of the goal from the centre of the field. However the wild celebrations were quickly cut short, as the officials deemed that the goal had inadvertently been shifted to the left by the initial Albouystown-B effort and as such the goal could not stand as penalty kicks loomed.
The resulting penalty shoot-out was simply an invitation to anarchy as the rival fan bases encroached on the playing area, encircling the respective kickers and creating an organizational nightmare for the teams, officials and tournament staff.
With instructions surfacing from every direction in an unfiltered manner, both teams struggled under the intense pressure as the first round of penalties finished 2-2 with both sides being guilty of missing from the spot twice.
Lining off on both ends of the goal post to form a human tunnel, the respective groups shouted contrasting instructions as the sudden death kicks from the halfway line commenced.
With both units scoring twice and missing once from the distance, the sea-saw fixture seemed destined to be undecided as the minutes continued tick away.
However upon firing wide of the mark in their fourth sudden death attempt, Sparta Boss would be bounced unceremoniously from the event as Roy Cassou buried his shot to send his side’s following into a frenzy.
On a night littered with further upsets, Island All-Stars defeated North East La Penitence 1-0 through a Yannick Peters third minute effort while California Square defeated Broad Street-B 3-2 on penalty kicks following a nil-all score line at the end of normal and extra time.
The quarterfinal upsets continued as Stevedore Housing Scheme edged Albouystown-A 3-2 on penalty kicks after normal and extra time finished 1-1.
Stephen Dolphin gave Stevedore the early lead with a 12th minute strike while Albouystown-A responded through a Shaka Jones 18th-minute effort.
West Front Road-Gold is Money overcame North Sophia 2-1 to book their quarterfinal spot. Wendell Pedro and Randolph Wagner netted for the come-from-behind winners in the 20th and 22nd minute respectively. On target in the loss was Kevin Frank in the eighth minute.
Alexander Village went down to Hope Street Tiger Bay 3-2 on penalty kicks in their quarterfinal matchup after normal time ended 0-0 while Berlin Massive defeated Globe Yard 1-0 to seal their spot in the final eight.
Queen Street Tiger Bay qualified for the quarterfinal round, squeaking past Castello Housing Scheme 3-2 on penalties following a 1-1 score line at the end of the normal and extra time intervals.
The quarterfinal round will commence on Tuesday December 17th at the same venue. California Square will face off with West Front Road while Berlin Massive will battle Hope Street Tiger Bay.
In the final two quarterfinal matches, Stevedore Housing Scheme will face off with Queen Street Tiger Bay and Island All-Stars will challenge Albouystown-B.
