The quarterfinals of the inaugural 592 Beer Inter-Village football competition Sunday at the Buxton Community Centre ground will feature a clash of styles between Mahaica and Friendship in the opening encounter from 8pm.
The match will see a physical Mahaica unit against the skillful Friendship side.
The trident of Azuma Roberts, Eion Abel and Shameer Nazir will lead the charge for Mahaica as they attempt to secure a semi-final berth while Dillon Wright, Clive Andries and Okenny Fraser will be the main figures for the Friendship unit.
In the second fixture, hosts Buxton tackles Paradise at 22:00hrs. The Buxtonians will be in a buoyant mood following an impressive group stage showing and will look to their talisman Eon Costello to lead the way come kickoff time.
However, the Paradise unit possess the quality to justify their billing as dark horses owing to a quality roster which contains the duo of Quincy Adams and Tyreek Cummings.
The competition will resume on Christmas Day with the second round of quarterfinal matches where Golden Grove will match skills with Brusch Dam in the opening match from 20:00hrs while Beterverwagting (BV) will oppose Ann’s Grove in the second encounter at 22:00hrs. Tournament coordinator Eon Havercome said that the event will now officially conclude on January 1st 2020.
He explained that the decision to extend the event was based on the response of the players, fans and sponsors, which was provided the deal platform for the players to compete following a prolonged absence of structured football in the region.
According to Havercome, the staging of the event highlights that football is truly alive in the East Coast Demerara region and said that the intention is for the tournament to become an annual affair. The winner of the competition will receive $500,000 and the championship trophy while the second, third and fourth place finishers will receive $200,000, $150,000 and $100,000 respectively and trophies.
Individual prizes will also be awarded for the Most Valuable Player [MVP] of the tournament, the MVP of the finale, the Best Goalkeeper of the tournament and the Best Goalkeeper of the final. Sponsors of the tournament include Bakewell Guyana Incorporated, ExxonMobil, the NSC and the Colin Talbot Construction Services.
