EVEN as several teams would have been licking their lips, as they draw closer to the $600 000 first-place prize in the inaugural Petra Organisation/Guyana Beverage Inc. Busta soft shoe five-a-side football tournament, the organisers were forced by the inclement weather to cancel last night’s actions.Teams such as Cross Street Werk-en-Rust, North East La Penitence and Queen Street-Tiger Bay, then had 24 hours to plan their strategy for their respective round-of-16 clash, which is expected to kick off tonight at the Georgetown Football Club ground, weather permitting.

The second round of 16 clash, for which teams must win or exit the tournament, will kick off Sunday night at the same venue, even as the quarter-finals are set for April 28, also at the GFC ground, which will be hosting all the matches, due to the unavailability of the other two grounds mentioned at the launching.
Meanwhile, apart from the second- to fourth-place prizes which are $300 000, $150 000 and $75 000 respectively, all the teams who competed in the preliminary round of the tournament which culminated last Tuesday night, will not leave empty-handed even if they did not make it to the round of 16.
West Front Road ‘Gold is Money’, who topped Group A, will pocket $30 000 along with whatever prize money they go on to win from here, if they make the semifinals. Queen Street-Tiger Bay, who finished second to West Front Road, will receive $15 000.
Even though they finished in third place they will receive $10 000, Cross Street/Werk-en-Rust were handed a lifeline to continue in the tournament as one of the best four third-placed teams, while they possessed a Goal Difference (GD) of -1 in comparison to Stevedore who will receive $5 000, having a GD of -3.
In Group B, Sparta Boss who defeated all their opponents and played unbeaten to top the Group, one of three teams to have done so, will pocket $30 000, leaving Alexander Village, Charlestown and California Square with $15 000, $10 000 and $5 000 respectively.
Like Sparta Boss, Ballerz played unbeaten to top Group C, leaving in their wake Sophia, Broad Street and D’Urban Street in that order, with Broad Street qualifying with a better GD as third-placed finishers and earned a spot in the round of 16.
Bent Street, playing out of Group D are the other team to have played the preliminary round unbeaten, as they defeated Albouystown, North East La Penitence and Holmes Street-Tiger Bay, to top that group, while the others finished in the order mentioned, with North East La Penitence advancing.
Georgetown Guinness ‘Greatest of De Streets 2015 champions North Ruimveldt did not do too badly, as they came out on top in Group E over Globe Yard, West Back Road and Back Circle, with West Back Road being handed a lifeline into the next round.
The final group in the six-group tournament, Group F, was marshalled by Festival City over Kitty Weavers, Tucville and Leopold Street, with only the top two from the group advancing to the next round, leaving the other two as spectators or if possible exhibition match players.
Suffice it to say, out of the 24 teams which would have competed in the preliminary stages of the tournament for a spot in the next round, four of them – California Square, D’Urban Street, Holmes Street-Tiger Bay and Leopold Street – failed to score a victory under their belt.