Eagles claw Retrieve Unknowns to grab second title
… Scheme edge Amazings to claim third place

EAGLES took full advantage of a moment of fortune and withstood a barrage of threatening raids from Retrieve Unknowns to cart off the top prize and one-year bragging rights when the curtain came down on this year’s Banks DIH/Linden Guinness ‘Greatest of de Streets’ Futsal competition at the Mackenzie Bus Park last Saturday night.Eagles Renna Chester’s fortuitous goal which was scored in the 7th minute of play was enough to hand them the first prize of $400 000 and a place in the national playoffs scheduled to be held sometime next month.
Chester’s goal came when a Retrieve Unknowns defender attempted to clear the ball from their goal area, but instead, fired his shot on to Chester only to see the ball rebound and head into the goal – a disappointing result in a game that produced fireworks from the first whistle as both teams exhibited clever skills and offence-oriented tactics.
When the half-time whistle sounded there was no change to the score-line as Eagles clung tenaciously to their 1-0 advantage, keeping their opponents at bay.
In the second period, Retrieve Unknowns came out aggressively in search of the equaliser and enjoyed a few moments where it seemed only a matter of time before they would get it, but once again Eagles, just as they had done n the inaugural tournament when they defeated the same opponents, refused to wilt.
With time running out, Retrieve Unknowns pressed desperately for the goal to level the match and could have conceded more goals had it not been for streaks of luck with the long ball landing most times agonisingly just outside the uprights with no defender in sight.
The final whistle eventually sounded to hand Eagles the title, leaving Retrieve Unknowns to settle for the runner-up prize of $200 000 runner-up prize along with a spot in the national finals.
Earlier in the evening, Scheme beat Amazings 3-1 on penalty kicks after full time ended with the scores level at 1-1, to take the third place prize of $100 000. All three teams received trophies with their cash prizes.
Meanwhile, Banks DIH’s Guinness Brand Manager Lee Baptiste in an invited comment said he was satisfied with the organisation of the tournament and fans could now look forward to the commencement of the East Coast Demerara edition which is set to start shortly.