Tournament favourite, Wismar Christianburg, along with Ash Education, St George’s High and the Region Seven outfit, Waramadong all clinched semifinal berths yesterday in the Chico/Kashif and Shanghai Elite Next Generation Tournament.
In front of a sizable pro Waramadong crowd at the Georgetown Football Club (GFC) ground, the visitors outshot a game Charlestown side 3-1 on penalties after a two-all deadlock following 90+ minutes of play.
During regulation, the goal scorers were Lindel Joseph (12th and 45th) for Waramadong and Shane Morris (39th) and Omari James (90th) for Charlestown.
At the same venue St. George’s also needed penalties to march into the final four. The city based team held their nerve and buried all their spot kicks for a 6-5 sudden death win over MacKenzie High School after both teams were held scoreless at the end of regulation time while at the Buxton Community Centre ground, Wismar Christianburg trounced Ann’s Grove, 5-2 and Ash Education defeated Annandale 3-nil.
Shane Luckie (19th, 23rd, and 29th) fired in a hat-trick for Wismar Christianburg while Ezra Ashby (65th) and Rolex John (68th) padded the score line.
Captain, Daniel Pellew (7th) and Daniel Francis (35th) were the goal scorers for Ann’s Grove.
In the Ash Education/ Annanadale fixture, Lester Cummings (10th), Atlin Browne (60th) and Ozese Halley (73rd) were responsible for the Berbice based institution’s success.
The semi-finals for the inaugural secondary school competition will be played on Monday. Ash Education will tackle Waramadong at 19:00hrs at GFC, while St. George’s will lock horns with Wismar Christianburg at the MacKenzie Sports Club (MSC) simultaneously. All school aged children will be admitted free to both games.
The winner of the tournament will pocket a record $1.2M in cash of which 75% will go towards a project identified by the school.
They will also receive a trophy and 25 replicas along with the prize money.
The institutions placing second, third and fourth will each receive prize monies amounting to $750,000, $500,000 and $250,000, in cash respectively.
The second and third place teams will receive trophies and 25 silver and bronze medals respectively, while the fourth place team will receive a trophy.
As customary, the grand finale will be staged on January 1 at the Providence National Stadium. (Emmerson Campbell)
