… semis on tonight – Topp XX vs Alpha and Pele vs Camptown
SEVERAL of the country’s top players will be on show this evening at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence,  as the Kashif and Shanghai (K&S) Football tournament reaches its semi-final stage with a new champion set to be crowned following the exit of 2009/10 winners BK International Western Tigers.
Four teams, all aiming to reach the Final on New Year’s Day and to claim the $2M first place cash prize, will square off tonight. All four – Bakewell Topp XX, Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United, Sunburst Camptown and Pele – have walked the road of success in the 20-year history of the tournament and fans can expect another entertaining evening of football by the top players.
A glance at the matchups see 2003 champions Camptown up against 2008 winners Pele while the other encounter will be a rematch of the 2007 final, Alpha United versus Topp XX.
Of the four teams, Alpha United have shown that they are goal-hungry, amassing 11 goals in the two games played so far and with the inclusion of Grenadian national striker Kiston Bain, the young Topp XX defence will have their work cut out.
Bain has shown that he can literally be a nuisance to the best defence thrown at him and while Topp XX have always been known as the ‘team of the Kashif and Shanghai tournament’ they still lack that killer instinct when compared with their foes.
In the five-time champions’ last match, Collie ‘Hitman’ Hercules assumed his position as the coach of the team and allowed the young ‘XX’ players to show what they are made of and the team also had the inclusion of defenders Javin Crawford and the experienced Richard Reynolds in goal.
Most football enthusiasts, if asked to pick a winner of this clash, will certainly go for Alpha United since the two-time National League Champions are the more experienced and tactical of the two teams. Also there are those who would say that Topp XX can spring surprises and have played the best teams in the Kashif and Shanghai over the years and have represented Linden well, which will make the contest more interesting.
The other game will see the artistry of the South Georgetown ball-weavers Pele matching skills with a struggling Camptown who have ridden their luck well to be in the semis.
Pele, with the likes of the lethal duo of Gregory ‘Jackie Chan’ Richardson and Devon Millington, defensive stalwart Charles ‘Lilly’ Pollard, midfielders Travis ‘Zorro’ Grant, Konata Mannings, Dirk Archers Jr and Shawn ‘Bubbly’ Beveney have yet to really deliver what this line-up is capable of producing. 
Under the guidance of former national standout Gordon ‘Ultimate Warrior’ Braithwaite it is almost certain that the team will work on their finishing – a sore and painful part of their few deficiencies that was conspicuous during their 2-0 win over Santos on Monday last at the Guyana National Stadium.
Millington was spoon-fed all night by Richardson, Beveney and Grant but often blundered at point blank range until he finally found his mark in the 47th minute.
Richardson too was guilty of squandering some certain chances on goal and when they weren’t saved, they sailed over the crossbar or hit the post.
But the Carolina Railhawks striker (Richardson) finally got his reward for hard work in the closing seconds of the game (90+3 minutes).
Should Pele correct their mistakes, Camptown would be in for a long night since, defensively, Pele are hard to beat.
Camptown’s premier striker Nigel ‘Powers’ Codrington has been silently pushing his team to a second title and notched up another goal during their ousting of last year’s winner Western Tigers 3-2.
The Campleville-based team Camptown have shown that they can score at will without the fancy football, with Codrington netting a double (37th and 48th minutes) and Devon Forde (12th minute) finding the back of the net in their quarterfinals game.
But then Western Tigers showed that Camptown can get too comfortable when taking an early lead, as they scored two goals in under two minutes through Nedd Fraser (75th) and Lorenzo Duesbury (77th).
The national stadium is expected to be packed with football-hungry fans tonight and, with the qualification to play in the final for $2M, two highly competitive games are anticipated.
The Alpha United/Bakewell Topp XX clash will start at 18:00 h while the Sunburst Camptown and Pele battle is scheduled for 20:00 h.