THE East Coast Demerara Football Association (EDFA) Under-20 football tournament kicks off today at Victoria and BV grounds respectively, with eight teams competing for trophies and other medals. The teams in the tournament are: Buxton United, Victoria Kings, Mahaica Determinators, BV/Triumph United, Bakewell Buxton Stars, Golden Stars, Plaisance United, and Ann’s Grove United. The teams have been divided into two groups; Upper and Lower East Coast.
The Upper East Coast consists of Victoria Kings, Ann’s Grove United, Mahaica Determinators, Golden Stars; while the Lower East Coast consists of Buxton United, Bakewell Buxton Stars, BV/Triumph United, and Plaisance.
Commencing on the upper East Coast at 14:00 h Mahaica Determinators will battle against their old foes Ann’s Grove United, who have the edge since they have at least two national junior players and have done a lot of youth development work.
At  16:00 h, one of the tournament favourites Victoria Kings, led by their captain Calvin DeSouza, will battle against long-time rivals Golden Stars. Both teams are very strong with junior national players in their squad which will make the game very competitive.
In the other group at BV Ground from  14:00 h Plaisance will tackle Bakewell Buxton Stars and at 16:00 h BV/Triumph United will take on their bitter rivals Buxton United, who have done very well at youth level over the years.
This match should be a keenly contested affair since both of these teams have produced more national youth players over the last three years than any other East Coast team.
The match will bring into focus two of the more qualified coaches in Guyana; Bill Wilson and Linden France. Buxton United is also one of the tournament favourites and have at least four national junior players from last year’s Under-17 national side. While BV/Triumph United have at least two players from the same national squad.