The battle of Edinburgh!

Jan 01, 2023 Sports

– Region 4 and Region 3 battle tonight in President’s Cup finale

By Rawle Toney

Kaieteur News – It came down to the two best teams in the One Guyana President’s Cup tournament, Region 4 and Region 3, going head-to-head tonight at the National Track and Field Centre at Edinburgh, from 8:00 pm.

The two sides reached the final of the inaugural tournament after topping their respective groups and winning their semi-finals in an emphatic fashion.

President Irfaan Ali and the One Guyana trophy that will be up for grabs between Region 4 and Region 3 in the finals.

Region 4 booked their place in the finals with an 8-1 victory over Region 5, while Region 3 had a 5-2 win over Region 7.

Both Pre-tournament favourites, Region 4 and Region 3, will play for the winner’s purse of $2M, with the second-place team going home with $1M.

The two teams earned each $400,000 for their semi-final wins while picking up $200,000 for each group-stage victory.

President Irfaan Ali along with members of his Cabinet and other Government officials are expected to be on hand tonight to witness the colossal showdown.

Region 4 will enter the contest as the favourites to cart off the trophy, taking into consideration how dominant they’ve played throughout the tournament.

Also, loaded with players from the country’s senior men’s national team – the Golden Jaguars – Coach Wayne Dover will turn to his young brigade to get the better of a Region 3 team that depends heavily on its captain, Leo Lovell and goal-scoring exploits of Trayon Bobb and Delon Lanferman.

Lanferman, Bobb and Lovell have been doing the heavy lifting for Region 3. The team have shown that they can also play from behind in unusual circumstances and still come out victorious, as in the case of their final group stage win over Region 10 and the semis against Region 7.

Region 4 is yet to be tested, perhaps outside of their Group A game with Region 9, where they won 1 – 0.

Kelsey Benjamin, the tournament’s leading goal scorer (9), has been superb for Coach Dover, while his attacking partner, Nicholas McArthur and Omari Glasgow have both scored seven goals each.

While Region 3 doesn’t lack firepower, Region 4 holds the edge for having more arsenals in their armoury.

Defensively, Region 4 once again holds the edge, with their back-line being marshalled by

Region 4

Colin Nelson and the youthful exuberance of former youth captain and current Golden Jaguars, Jeremy Garrett.

The midfield will be interesting, with Lovell coming up against a clinical Curtez Kellman.

Kellman has shown tremendous growth in his role, especially since his stint in the MLS Next Pro League with Sporting Kansas City.

Meanwhile, the third-place game is also expected to be a mouth-watering battle between Region 7 and Region 5. That game is expected to kick off at 6:00 pm.

Following the Inter-Ward tournament played throughout the country, the districts selected their best 25 players to play in the Regional Tournament.

In Group A, Region 4 (Demerara/Mahaica), ranked as the top seed, will be joined by Region 6 (East Berbice/Corentyne), Region 7 (Cuyuni/Mazaruni), Region 9 (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo) and Region 8 (Potaro-Siparuni).

Region 3

District 10 (Upper Demerara/Upper Berbice) was placed as the top seed in Group B and joined by Region 5 (Mahaica/Berbice), Region 1 (Barima/Waini), Region 3 (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara) and Region 2 (Pomeroon-Supenaam).

The teams played in a round-robin format in the initial stage, where the top two teams from each group advanced to the semi-finals.

Matches were played at the National Track and Field Centre, the Buxton Community Centre Ground, the Bartica Community Centre Ground, #5 Ground and the Albion Sports Complex.