Amelia’s Ward Russians and Wisroc will compete for the fourth annual Linden Guinness of the Streets championships after securing semi-final victories over Retrieve Unknown and Star Boyz respectively on Thursday.
Both teams will now faceoff on Monday at same venue in the grand finale.
Prior to the final, the third place playoff between Retrieve Unknowns and Star Boyz will also be held.
In the opening semi-final matchup at the Mackenzie Market Tarmac, Wisroc squeaked past Star Boyz 1-0 in a very cagey affair. Omar Archer settled the outcome in the 16th minute of the second period.
Latching onto the ball on the right side of the field, Archer would lash his right footed effort into the lower left hand corner to send the large crowd into a frenzy.
In the second semi-final showdown, Amelia’s Ward Russians defeated last year’s losing finalist Retrieve Unknowns 4-3 on sudden death kicks after the normal and extra time intervals ended scoreless.
The score would become 1-1 in the first round of penalty kicks as both sides scored from the distance. It would then remain 1-1 as both sides failed to hit the target in both their second and third attempts, sending the matchup into the sudden death round in the process.
The scores would remain unchanged as both teams missed in the fourth round of penalty kicks. It would then become 2-2 as both outfits scored from the distance in the fifth round of penalty kicks.
The sixth round would witness the scores remaining unchanged as both team failed to score from the distance. A 3-3 score line would highlight the sixth round of spot-kicks a both teams scored from the mark.
Amelia’s Ward would then take the lead in the seventh round as they netted from the distance. Needing to score to force the matchup into the eighth round of spot-kicks, Retrieve Unknowns would be booted from the tourney as they missed the mark.
Winners of either event will receive $300,000 and the championship trophy while the second place side will collect $150,000 and the runners-up accolade.
The third and fourth place finishers will collect $100,000 and $75,000 respectively. The resulting finalists will also earn the right to represent the zone at the impending national championship.
