SANTOS marched past Guyana Defence Force by a 3-2 margin while Slingerz edged BK Western Tigers 1-0 in the two semifinals of the Georgetown Football Association (GFA)/Banks Beer Knockout Cup Tournament at the GFC ground on Sunday night.The two winners (Santos and Slingerz) will meet in the grand final tomorrow night at the GCC ground (tentative), while BK Western Tigers and GDF will face each other in the third place playoff.
In the opening game, Anthony `Awo’ Abrams sent Santos into the lead with an 8th minute goal, while Christoff Wensley found the target for Santos in the 57th minute.
GDF’s lone goal was scored by Kennard Simon in the 42nd minute.
Santos stole the march on the army side after the ball was played from the middle of the field to the right side and passed on to Santos guest player Abrams who did nothing wrong in placing it neatly into the net.
With a slim 1-0 deficit, GDF upped the ante and raided the opposition’s goal on a number of occasions, directing at least six direct shots to goal and three that went wide. They also forced seven corners, none of which was converted.
In the much anticipated feature match which was witnessed by a huge crowd, Slingerz who played tremendously well throughout the tournament narrowly secured a 1-0 victory through a BK Western Tigers’ own goal in the 71st minute after the two teams were locked 0-0 at the end of the first half.
Santos secured their place in the final by registering a 10-1 win against Houston Stars in the first round, a 2-0 victory over Buxton United in the second round, a 1-0 win against 2012 champions Sunburst Camptown in the quarter-final round and Sunday’s 2-1 victory against GDF.
Slingerz, on the other hand, recorded a 3-1 win against Cougras in a first round fixture, a 5-3 win against Monedderlust in a penalty shoot-out after the two teams were locked 1-1 at the end of regulation and extra time, a 4-0 victory over Den Amstel in the quarter-final round and Sunday night’s 1-0 win against BK Western Tigers to reach the final.
The winning team in tomorrow’s final will receive $4M while the second-, third- and fourth-place teams will earn $2.5M, $1.5M and $1M respectively.
Written By Michael DaSilva