ANSA McAl’s Mackeson Stout brand manager Jamal Douglas yesterday morning in his company’s boardroom at Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara, expressed his gratitude at the successful hosting of the just concluded fourth annual Mackeson ‘Keep Your Five Alive’ futsal tournament.

When the action culminated at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall tarmac last Saturday night, after five weeks of action, it was the Hubert Pedro-led West Front Road quintet who came out on top over defending champions and pre-tournament favourites Sparta Boss, 3-2, via penalty kicks.
Hence the winners and runners-up were the recipients of their various prizes yesterday morning, prior to which Douglas said his Company was pleased to be associated with the tournament for another year.
“Mackeson deems the tournament whose competition level was raised in terms of football in the country, moreso street football, a success. We enjoyed the finals and as the other captains would agree with me, they had a difficult time coming through the early stages of the tournament, based on the will to fight hard by the other teams,” said Douglas.
He added, “It was nice to see the winning team go through winning all their games on penalty kicks and not conceding a goal, which strongly underlines their commitment to not only ‘Keep their five alive’, but also come out on top in the tournament.”
While congratulating both finalists and the victorious West Front Road unit, Douglas expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the other 30 teams who competed during the five weeks of action. He added that next year’s tournament which would be the fifth edition would be bigger and better.
“The win by West Front Road on penalty kicks in all their matches, further underlines their level of football played not only by them but the other teams against whom they competed. Having said that, we are looking forward to next year’s tournament which would be the fifth edition where we will be coming very big and much better,” stated Douglas.
Douglas said Mackeson Stout was proud to be associated with community sports, in this case, football, for which they are earnestly looking forward to next year’s tournament, wherein they anticipate more rivalries among the teams.
Prior to Douglas making his remarks, West Front Road skipper Hubert Pedro applauded the sporadic efforts of the defending champions in the final, saying they are a very competitive team who gave of their best.
“The tournament was a challenging one for us. You cannot take anything from Sparta Boss who gave us a good final. They are a good team and they gave of their best in the final, but the team that held their composure came out on top and that was our team.
“As it relates to the head-to-head clash between Sparta and us, it is 1-1 so we know there will be a tie-breaker and it is one we are looking forward to whenever it happens. We are not taking anything away from them, but I must say that it is an esteemed privilege to replace them as champions,” said Pedro.
He congratulated Ansa McAl through Mackeson Stout for their continued support of the tournament and applauded the organiser Kevin Adonis for doing a splendid job in making it another successful story this year.
Speaking on behalf of West Front Road, Jerome Richardson said their first motive was to reach the quarterfinals and take it from there and despite the numerous challenges they faced, they managed to do just that.
“Our first headache was to make it to the quarterfinals and we succeeded. After that, we were taking it one match at a time and even though we were faced with some close and tense situations such as the contest against Costello, we managed to come out on top.
“We found a tough hurdle in West Front Road in the finals, but they played well and we give them accolades for their performances throughout the tournament, wherein they came out on top. We look forward to next year’s tournament.”
Both finalists were the recipients of turf boots and balls, while for the win, each player on the West Front Road lineup received a pair of football boots, with the turf boots being donated with the kind compliments of Colours Boutique, while Clairan’s Boutique was responsible for the five football boots handed over to West Front Road.
In addition to the above, West Front Road pocketed $300 000 and a trophy, leaving their defeated opponents to carry home $200 000 and the runners-up trophy.
Written By Calvin Roberts