4th NAMILCO Festival …
… Sunburst Camptown, Fruta Conquerors meet for third place
FINALLY, and after numerous cancellations due to bad weather, a new champion will be crowned tonight at the Tucville playfield when the fourth annual NAMILCO Football Festival culminates with national club champions Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United and underdogs Santos Football Club battling for supremacy and the $500 000 first prize from 20:00 h. It will be a battle of the orange juice manufacturers for the third place playoff, when Sunburst Camptown and host team Fruta Conquerors meet from 18:00 h, with the winner carting off $100 000 along with the rights to boast of being the better product.
An Under-15 exhibition matchup between Fruta Conquerors and Santos will kick-start the proceedings from 16:00 h.
Alpha’s path to this stage of the competition was an easy one as they defeated Milerock, Rosignol United and Sunburst Camptown, while Santos sent Pele, former Kashif and Shanghai champions BK International Western Tigers and the host team packing out of the competition in that order.
For tonight’s encounter national captain Howard Lowe, who will also don the captain’s arm band for ‘The Hammer’ team, will be looking to players of the calibre of Kelvin McKenzie, Issa McPherson, Solomon Austin, Philbert Moffat and national custodian Ronson Williams to thwart Santos’ raids on their goal area.
Upfront will be Dwight Peters, Anthony ‘Awo’ Abrams, Andrew Murray Jr, Dwain Jacobs, Shevaughn Seaforth and Shawn Bishop, who can all destroy any defence in place for any local team, irrespective of the place, time and date of the match, as they have done on numerous occasions.
But Santos will be looking to prove a point to those who felt they should not have reached thus far in the tournament, especially with the result in their replayed semifinal fixture last Wednesday, when they defeated the host team 1-0.
Lennox Charles, Jermaine Fraser, Mark Glasgow and Patrice Graham marshalled the defence well with O’Neil Heywood doing a marvellous job between the uprights since their exit from the Mackeson Stout/Digicel Sweet 16 tournament last month.
Add the indomitable Glenorvan Edmonds to the Santos’ lineup and certainly Alpha United, who won their second Kashif and Shanghai title with a 3-2 victory over Pele on New Year’s Day, will have their work cut out since this player is known to create havoc for opposing teams’ defensive lineup in the past.
Shemroy Arthur, Kester Jacobs, William Europe, Joel Lloyd, Kwesi John, Michael Pedro and the veteran Gerald Whittington will also lead their challenge in their bid to avoid picking up the $200 000 second-place tab.
Certainly, Fruta Conquerors coach Gilbert Sampson must have regretted playing first choice custodian Oswald Cornette over Colin Edwards, since it was the exemplary performance of the latter that enabled his team to reach the final four of the tournament before they bowed out to Santos.
To their throng of supporters, whichever custodian is used tonight is of no importance as they will only be battling for bragging rights against a team that is on the rebounding path of football in the Capital City.
The youthful Fruta Conquerors lineup will be led by Gerald Gittens who marshals the midfield with authority, with support from Lester Peters, Pernell Schultz, Trevon Lythcott, Travis Hyman, Dwayne Lawrence and skipper Jolyon Harry.
For Sunburst Camptown, Rishawn Sandiford will continue to lead their challenge with amicable support from Troy ‘Bugsy’ Prescod, Telson McKinnon, Lance Rolston and the always dangerous Nigel ‘Powers’ Codrington, with Maurice Prince being the man in charge of the uprights.
Individual prizes for the best goalkeeper, Most Valuable Player, highest goalscorer and computer scholarships for two young promising players will be handed out at the presentation ceremony which takes place after the final whistle is blown to close the tournament.
Managing Director of NAMILCO, Bert Sukhai, along with some of his members of staff will be on hand to witness tonight’s action and assist with the distribution of prizes to the various winners.
The management of Fruta Conquerors would like to express their heartfelt thanks to 2J’s General Store, Junior’s Jewellery, Bayridge Taxi Service, Global Technology, Banks DIH, Oasis Water Company, Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) and NAMILCO for their undying support once again.