THE opening night of the Georgetown Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ Championship lived up to its billing, as one of the most anticipated streetball tournaments. There were eight high octane knock-out clashes with a couple of new faces impressing on the night.

When action kicked off at the National Cultural Centre tarmac on Friday night, debutants LA Ballers, consisting mainly of national youth footballers, took on Trap Squad. The youngsters stuck five goals past them without response to book their spot in the Group stage.

Nicholas McArthur opened proceedings with a  third-minute goal before Jaleel Hamilton made it 2-0 in the fifth and Rashawn Ritch scored immediately after; Simeon Moore handed the Ballers a 4-0 advantage in the 12th minute before Hamilton scored his second of the game to put the icing on the cake.

Other newcomers, John Street, battled hard throughout their fixture against seasoned veterans North Ruimveldt but it took a special moment from Venezuelan G. Owadr in the 18th minute to decide the winner.

Owadr chested down a lofted pass close to Ruimveldt’s goal and volleyed home to spark jubilant celebrations from John Street. The Venezuelan’s strike counted as a ‘Guinness Goal’ (a goal scored in the final two minutes of the game) which meant the game ended 2-0 in favour of the newcomers.

Meanwhile, Alexander Village edged California Square 2-1 in a close encounter; Leon Yaw struck in just the second minute of the game to put Alexander Village 1-0 up but Meshach Barret equalised in the fifth minute before Mickel Mark handed Alexander Village a 2-1 lead in the seventh minute, a lead that they kept for the remainder of the game.

Streetball juggernauts Sparta Boss took to the tarmac in the penultimate game of the night and handed Judgement Yard a 3-0 defeat; Ryan ‘Bom Bom’ Hackett was the man on target for Sparta with a goal in the 15th minute. He also struck in the closing minutes to record a Guinness Goal which meant the scoreline ended at 3-0.

Defending champions ‘Gold is Money’ had a comfortable 2-0 victory over Globe Yard in the final fixture of the night, with Jermin Junior and Michael Pedro scoring in the 13th and 17th minutes respectively.

Albouystown-A required penalties (3-2) to get past Upsetters while North East La Penitence hit four past Stabroek Ballers (2 goals) to book their spot in the group stage.

Back Circle also required penalties to beat Norton Street after the end of regulation time saw the scores tied at 3-3. Dellon Kelly, Selwyn Williams and Stephon McLean were the men on target for Back Circle while Carl Griffith netted a hat-trick for Norton Street. When it came down to kicks from the spot though, Back Circle prevailed 4-3.

The elimination fixtures continued last night at Burnham Court with eight matches, the results of which will be published in a subsequent article.

Winners of the Georgetown Championship will walk away with a trophy and $500 000 while runners-up will pocket $300 000 with the third-place finishers collecting $200 000.

Fourth-place finishers will find themselves $100 000 richer while the contestants in the ‘Plate’ section will have an opportunity to win a similar prize.

The event will last for seven days with the other playing dates being July 19, 20, 26 and 27. The grand final is scheduled for August 3.