Riddim Squad and Western Tigers will faceoff in the grand finale of the fifth annual GFA/Banks Beer Knockout Championships after they defeated Santos and New Amsterdam United respectively in the semi-finals Tuesday.
It will be the second appearance in the final for Riddim Squad whose custodian Ron Liverpool inspired them to a 3-2 victory on penalty kicks following a 1-1 score at the end of normal and extra time at the Georgetown Football Club (GFC) ground.
Asked to take first strike, Santos FC captain Dwayne McLennon made no mistake as he netted into the lower left corner. Next up was Sheldon Hope for Riddim Squad who netted past the diving goalkeeper into the right corner.
From here on it was the Liverpool show as he denied the opposing ‘keeper at the start of the second round, sending the crowd into a frenzy. Sceyon Hope capitalised on Liverpool’s heroics as he netted from the mark with a powerful finish into the left corner, giving Riddim Squad a 2-1 lead.
Liverpool’s exploits continued in the third round as he denied Samuel Hunte with his trailing leg while diving to his left, igniting further celebrations on the field from his side’s onrushing large fan-base. The score then became 3-1 as Steffon Hope scored into the lower left corner.
Needing to score at the start of the fourth round to keep his unit’s hopes alive, Job Caesar made no mistake as he buried his effort past the diving Liverpool into the lower left corner to pull within one at 3-2.
Simply requiring a conversion to seal the contest, Riddim Squad handed Santos an unlikely lifeline as Dellon John was denied from the distance. Santos, though, needed another conversion in their fifth attempt to keep their championship aspirations alive.
However, Liverpool made his presence felt once more, denying Shawn Mohammed’s right footed shot diving to his left.
Prior to the fixture’s dramatic conclusion, Santos took the lead in the sixth minute as Caesar netted, finishing past the advancing ‘keeper inside the centre of the box, after latching onto a left sided cross unchallenged.
Caesar almost made it 2-0 in the 18th minute, unleashing a powerful strike from the top of the box which forced a diving save from Liverpool to his right. The Mocha-based unit then equalised in the 21st minute from the penalty mark following a clumsy challenge.
Sceyon Hope netted the resulting spot-kick which went fortuitously through the legs of the ‘keeper and into the lower right corner. McLennon nearly restored Santos’s lead in the 57th minute but he was denied by Liverpool low to his left, after racing into the right side of the box.
Similarly, Sheldon Hope was denied in the 73rd minute, striking a right footed attempt from the left of the box which was parried to the right by the shot-stopper.
Santos had a glorious chance in the final kick of the fixture to seal the contest as a lobbed pass into the box from a 26 yard Mohammed freekick, fell into the path of Caesar unchallenged, who inexplicably blasted his effort into the legs of the advancing goalkeeper.
Riddim Squad will oppose Western Tigers at the National Stadium in Providence on Friday following the latter’s 3-0 win over New Amsterdam United in a cagey affair.
The score line did not do justice to how closely fought the contest was as goals from Ryan Adolph, Dwayne Ali and Randolph Wagner in the 72nd, 82nd and 85th minutes respectively sealed Western Tiger’s inaugural final’s berth.
Following a cagey opening period, Adolph opened the scoring with 18 minutes remaining on the clock, stabbing home into the right corner from inside the centre of the box, after the goal-keeper punched a ball into sea of players following a left side cross into the box.
Ali then made it 2-0 with eight minutes remaining in the contest, heading unchallenged into the left side from within the six yard box, after an initial Darren Benjamin strike from outside the left of the box, was parried onto the crossbar by the keeper and fell into the midfielder’s path
The result was sealed five minutes before the end as Wagner scored his sixth of the event, cutting into the centre of the box before placing his right footed shot into the top left hand corner of the net.
Winner of the tourney will receive two million dollars and the championship trophy while the second, third and fourth place finishers will pocket one million, $500,000 and $250,000 respectively along with the corresponding accolade.
