Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:37 AM
Apr 03, 2015 Sports
From the time the fixtures were released, football fanatics have been dreaming of a Bakewell Slingerz versus Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United final in the Kashif and Shanghai football tournament and on Sunday April 5 at the Guyana National Stadium, their dreams will come true.
When the semi-finals of the 25th edition of the tournament were held at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ground on Wednesday evening last, Bakewell Slingerz dismantled Riddim Squad 4-0 while Alpha United had to work hard for their 1-0 win over Pele.
A double by Devon Millington (36th, 64th) and one each from Julian Wade (65th) and Anthony ‘Awo’ Abrams (89th) ensured that the West Demerara based club will meet their rivals for the fourth time in two years, Alpha’s winning strike came off the boot of their ace forward Gregory ‘Jackie Chan’ Richardson, a former Pele member, in the first half.
It’s fair to say that the Slingerz/Riddim showdown was a one-sided contest
with the Mocha Arcadia club finding it hard to keep up with the star studded cast of the ‘West Side’ champs.
A line-up featuring most of the players from the ‘Golden Jaguars’ – Guyana’s senior National Football team – proved to be a mismatch and produced a brand of football that was above Riddim Squad’s.
Boosted by the return of their Dominican International forward Julian Wade who was on duty with his country in the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers and the inclusion of Suriname’s top forward Wensley Christoph, Slingerz looked different than they did against Victoria Kings and Fruta Conquerors.
Having had several chances to score in the initial stages of the game, Millington teamed up with Christoph, playing on the wing to score the game’s opening goal in the 36th minute. The ‘Dutchman’ playing down the left wing, getting around two Riddim Squad defenders, slipped the ball through to a lurking Millington who had made the right run on goal to give Slingerz a 1-0 half time advantage.
Twenty minutes into the second half, after failing to connect on goal on at least five times, Christoph again picked out Millington, this time scoring the ‘goal of the game’, volleying a onetime pass from the Surinamese that left the crowd at the DCC ground in ‘awe’, including the Riddim Squad goalkeeper.
Christoph would again leave his mark on the game when he replicated his first assist to Millington, this time finding Wade flashing down the middle and his one-touch effort was put out of reach of the advancing keeper.
Riddim Squad really had no chance getting past Slingerz’s rock solid defence led by Colin Nelson and including King Solomon Austin and Joshua Brown. Dwayne Lawrence and Abrams came in as substitutes replacing Vurlon Mills and Wade respectively and the two would team up to score the game’s fourth goal.
Lawrence attacking his defenders sent a ‘through-ball’ that was beautifully taken by Abrams who found himself 1v1 with the gaolie; the veteran forward called on his experience to guide the ball safely into the back of the net.
It was the team’s most impressive performance as compared to their foes Alpha United who scraped past Pele. Omallo Williams was Pele’s star of the night, breaking down Alpha’s defence at will but the diminutive forward lacked the adequate finishing touches.
Alpha and Golden Jaguars defender Jamaal Smith had his work cut out for him for the entire night. However, the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Championship bound team played flatfooted and had Pele finished all the chances they created, the results would have certainly been different.
Richardson capitalised on the lack of focus in Pele’s defence to break down the middle employing daft footwork coupled with a sudden burst of speed while perfectly controlling the ball that eluded Pele’s Richard ‘Loddo’ Reynolds who advanced with a view of cutting Richardson off.
But even as experienced as Reynolds is he could not have kept Richardson from scoring the lone and winning goal in the 30th minute. The winner of this year’s tournament will pocket $2M, second place $1m while third and fourth gets $750,000 and $500,000 respectively.
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