– Sparta Boss stamps authority on opening night

A double from Devon Millington, and a goal each from Gregory ‘Jackie Chan’ Richardson and Eusi Phillips were enough to send the notorious Futsal ‘kings’ Sparta Boss to the next round of the Xtreme Clean & Maintenance / GT Beer ‘Gold Rush’ Futsal Tournament, following their 4 – 1 win over West Back Road on Friday evening at the National Gymnasium.

Regarded as ‘the team to beat’ in any tournament, Sparta Boss’ marksman Millington scored the game’s first goal seven minutes into the contest, with a ripping right-footed volley which the West Back Road custodian had no chance of stopping.

But Josephus Charles then equalised for West Back Road just before the stroke of half time; setting the tone for an entertaining second half.

Millington, Richardson, Philips and Solomon Austin dominated possession, and the writing was already on the wall for West Back Road; they had no chance of coming out on top.

Phillips would then make it 2- 1 with his 14th minute strike, while Millington completed his double three minutes later.

Richardson, who was fantastic with the ball at his feet, making several clinical plays and entertaining the crowd with his showmanship, then cemented his team’s appearance in the round-robin stage with a beautiful goal just before the end of the game.

Meanwhile, Linden’s Dave & Celena All Stars went down 3- 2 to Sophia and Showstoppers of West Demerara and East Coast Demerara’s Beterverwagting (BV) were sent packing after going down 5 – 2 and 5- 4 to Tiger Bay and Agricola Champion Boys, respectively.

In other results: Broad Street Bullies edged Kitty 2-1 with Darren Benjamin and Jimmy Gravesande on target for the winners, while Simon Emanuel netted for Kitty.

Another six knockout games were scheduled to be played last evening, while the round-robin stage is set to commence tonight.

The top two teams in each group and the two best third place teams will advance to the Quarterfinals. The Round Robin playoffs continue on June 6 and 8. The Quarterfinal will be played on June 13. The Semi-final on June 15 and the Final on Saturday June 17.

The winning team will take home $500,000 and a trophy, while second, third and fourth placed teams will collect $200,000, $100,000 and $50,000 respectively.