The Buxton Community Center ground will come alive tonight when Friendship battles Paradise and Golden Grove opposes Beterverwagting [BV] in the semi-final round of the inaugural 592 Beer Inter-Village Football Festival.
The Friendship and Paradise encounter at 21:00hrs will be the main attraction of the evening and is expected to be witnessed by a mammoth crowd. Paradise earned their place in the semi-final following a penalty shoot-out victory over Buxton, and, as such, the support from the large gathering will be firmly in the corner of Friendship.
Quincy Adams, Teshawn Gordon and Tyreek Cummings are the key players who will responsible for overcoming the threat in hostile territory.
Friendship, on the other hand, will be in a confident mood following their penalty shoot-out win over Mahaica and will look exact revenge for their sister village Buxton come kick off time. This objective will heavily depend on the duo of Clive Andries and Dillon Wright.
The opening encounter is expected to set the trend of the evening. Golden Grove, the hosts for the final, will be desperate to contest the championship match in front of their rabid following. They will require another monumental showing from the quartet of Dwain Jacobs, Quason McAulay, Seretsi Huntley and Phillip Williams to guarantee a victory.
Standing in their way is the formidable attacking foursome of Omari Glasgow, Reon Hopkinson, Akin Curry and Jemar Harrigon, players who are more than capable of dismantling any side with their versatile skill set. This was evident during their hard-fought win over Ann’s Grove.
Tournament coordinator Eon Havercome during a pre-match comment said, “We are now at the penultimate stage of the tournament. The business end for many, and there is all to play for as the teams vie for that coveted berth in the grand finale. All the matches in the quarterfinal section was decided by penalty kicks so I am expecting another highly competitive evening. Once again I would like to commend the players and fans for their unwavering support in making the tournament a success. This tournament has the potential to the main staple of the East Coast Demerara region in the foreseeable future.”
The eventual champion of the event will pocket $500,000 and the championship trophy. On the other hand, the second, third and fourth place finisher will receive $200,000, $150,000 and $100,000 respectively and the corresponding trophy.
Similarly, 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. Some of the major sponsors of the tournament include Bakewell Guyana Incorporated, ExxonMobil, the NSC, Flavours Boss and the Colin Talbot Construction Services.
