Quarter-final, semi-final action kicks off tonight

QUARTERFINAL and semifinal action in this year’s sixth annual Georgetown Guinness ‘Greatest of de Streets’ Futsal football competition kicks off at the National Cultural Centre tarmac tonight, with pre-tournament favourites West Front Road ‘Gold is Money’ opposing one of the upsetters in Hope Street-Tiger Bay.

Wendell and Herbert Pedro, Michael Oie, Randolph Wagner and Stellon David will lead West Front Road’s challenge against a side who defeated Alexander Village in their round of 16 contest to reach this stage and will look to Rensford Coleridge, Dwayne Dickson and Dennis Caledenia to take them into the semis.
Tonight’s action will kick off with Berlin Massive, for whom Devon Charles, Akine Collins, Michael Payne and Sherwin Cadogan have been on target at various intervals throughout the tournament, opposing Queen Street-Tiger Bay who will be led by Deon Alfred and Leon Fredericks.
After West Front Road and Hope Street-Tiger Bay collide in the second match of the evening, Stevedore Housing Scheme, whose lineup includes Steven Dolphin, Quason Winter and Fitzroy Witherspoon, will go head-to-head with California Square, for whom Christopher Darlington will be looking to continue his act of scoring in every match for his team.
The final quarterfinal encounter will see Alpha McPhoy lead Island All Star unit which also includes Paul Porter, going up against Albouystown ‘B’ who will be led by Marlon Nedd and Roy Cassou in a keenly contested encounter.
Following the Guinness half-hour break, the semifinals will get under way with the winners of the first two matches colliding in one encounter while the victors of matches three and four will meet in the other.
The final and third-place matchup will take place at the National Park this Saturday, when the Georgetown Guinness ‘Greatest of de Streets’ Futsal champion will be crowned.
Cash prizes totaling G$1M will be distributed to the various winners, with the top team taking home $500 000, while the second-, third- and fourth-placed teams take home $300 000, $200 000 and $100 000 respectively along with trophies, while all the teams in the preliminary round will pocket $25 000, $20 000, $15 000 and $10 000 each, according to their placing.
Like the previous two years of the tournament, the winners and runners-up will go on to represent Georgetown in the nationwide tournament, whose winner will represent Guyana in next year’s Caribbean ‘Guinness Greatest of the Streets’ Futsal Football competition that is scheduled to be held in Trinidad and Tobago in June.

(By Calvin Roberts)