BK Western Tigers Super 8 football …
TONIGHT is the second of four nights of action in the BK International Western Tigers-organised Super 8 knockout tournament at the Georgetown Football Club (GFC) ground, where football fans gathered at the venue will see two more teams walk the plank when the action gets under way from 18:00 h. In the first match which can be a scorcher according to history, Kashif and Shanghai runners-up Pele will oppose Santos while hosts BK Western Tigers will face the home team GFC in the feature match that kicks off at 20:00 h.
Santos have been playing excellent football in recent times, which saw them reach the semifinals of the Bakewell Buxton Stars-organised Digicel/Mackeson Stout Sweet 16 as well as the finals of the yet-to-be-played NAMILCO tournament.
To this end, they will be looking to custodian O’Neil Heywood, along with defence marshal Jermaine Fraser to thwart the efforts of the Pele strikers, while support in other areas will come from inspirational midfielder Glenorvan Edmonds, Michael Pedro, Lennox Arthur and versatile striker Kacy John.
At the other end of the field will be Pele, who, along with national club champions Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United, provided the thousands of football fans gathered at the Guyana National Stadium on New Year’s day, with one of the most exciting and enthralling matches ever seen on the local stage.
Even though Pele lost the encounter 2-3, they displayed a level of football which matched their opponents in every department, having had in their lineup the likes of wily strikers in skipper Gregory ‘Jackie Chan’ Richardson, Devon Millington and Shawn Beveney.
Those three are not available, hence Dirk Archer may be entrusted with the captain’s armband for tonight’s encounter with Santos and he will be looking to custodian Shawn Johnson along with Mervin Liverpool, Travis ‘Zorro’ Grant, Marvin Joseph, Konata Mannings and Lyndon Simmons to stop their opponents and at the same time book their place for Sunday’s semifinals.
The West Ruimveldt-based BK International-sponsored Western Tigers unit will be looking for redemption when they face GFC, having lost out in their bid to retain their K&S title, when they suffered a quarterfinal defeat at the hands of Sunburst Camptown.
Sherman David is expected to be outfitted with the captain’s armband tonight, having made same available to former captain and guest player Dillon Fraser and with players in the calibre of Dwayne Ali, Vashile Cantzlaar, Nedd Fraser, Wendell Duesbury, Gideon Payne, Ryan Thomas and custodian Deryck Carter to see them to Sunday’s semis.
While not much is known about the Peter Lashley-coached GFC unit, they do have in their lineup former Under-17 custodian Brian Robinson along with the veteran Chad Fernandes, Shemroy Pilgrim, Roy Stanton and Selwyn Williams.
The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and Fruta Conquerors have already booked their place for Sunday’s semis and will confront each other from 18:00 h, while the winners of tonight’s encounter will meet at 20:00 h, with the final and third-place playoff set for next Sunday at the same venue.
At stake in the tournament are: $500 000 and a trophy for the winners, runners-up $200 000 and a trophy and third- and fourth-placed teams $100 000 and $50 000 respectively. Individual prizes will also be awarded to the Highest Goalscorer and Most Valuable Player (MVP).