West Front Road-Gold is Money will oppose Sparta Boss while Festival City will tackle Bent Street when the inaugural GT Beer Futsal Championship semi-final round begins today at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Fireworks are expected to fly when West Front Road-Gold is Money renew their
long standing rivalry Sparta Boss at 22:00hrs in the night’s feature contest.
While finishing second in the group-C would have seen their quality being rightfully questioned by many pundits because of their inconsistent showings, West Front Road-Gokd is Money has responded in an emphatic manner, downing arch-rivals West Back Road 5-3 in their previous quarterfinal affair.
From an attacking standpoint, the family connections of Hubert Pedro, Randolph Wagner, Michael Oie, Wendell Pedro and Michael Pedro have seen the West Ruimveldt unit netting 24 goals over four matches at six goals per fixture.
While attacking football will always be seen as their ‘modus operandi’, West Front Road-Gold is Money has developed into a disciplined defensive unit throughout the event, letting in only 16 goals to date at an average of four goals per game.
Seen by many as the tourney favourites following their exploits in the group stage, Sparta Boss will need to improve if they are to cinch another final’s berth after being pushed to the brink in their 6-5 win over Kitty Weavers in the earlier round.
From an attacking standpoint, the East La Penitence unit has scored 20 goals over four fixtures at an average of five goals per game. This is mainly due to their star-studded roster featuring the likes of Sheldon Shepherd, Travis Grant, Deon Alfred, Dennis Edwards and Carl Tudor.
Although they have conceded six goals in their previous encounter, Sparta Boss has conceded only 12 goals in the four matches at three goals per game, which is the best record of all the semi-final teams.
They only need to maintain that trend to be successful.
Judging by the rosters of both teams and their respective past performances, the opening semi-final affair between Festival City and Bent Street at 21:00hrs promises to be nothing short of a high scoring shoot-out.
Although finishing in the runners-up spot in group-D, Bent Street has been the event’s leading offensive unit, which was clearly evident by their 12-5 demolition of the very dangerous Sophia unit in the semi-final round.
Currently their foursome of Daniel Wilson, Okeene Fraser, Colin Nelson, Stellon David and Amos Ramsay have inspired the side to a phenomenal tally of 32 goals over the course of four matches, which translates to an average of eight goals per game.
However, their attacking nature has impacted their defensive duties. Currently they have conceded 21 goals in their four games at an average of 5.25 goals per game, the highest among all the semi-final sides. This facet will need to be improved if they are to overcome their formidable opponent.
On the other side, group-A winner Festival City has been equally impressive going forward. Their combination of Dwayne Lawrence, Eon Alleyne, Daniel Favourite and Solomon Austin have accounted for 26 goals, the second best attacking haul remaining in the tourney.
Defensively, they have been equally impressive, conceding only 15 goals during their four matches at a vaunted average 3.75 goals per game and will look to continue their rearguard showings come opening whistle. Prior to the commencement of the semi-final matches, two exhibition fixtures will be staged.
The semi-final round will commence today at the same locale. Winner of the event will collect $500,000 and trophy while the second, third and fourth place finishers will collect $250,000, $125,000 and $75,000 and the correspondingly accolade. Other sponsor of the event is the National Milling Company (NAMILCO) of Guyana.
