Linden, G/T to battle for top honours

TONIGHT an exhilarating match which has been brewing for two nights comes to past as Georgetown and Linden All Stars face off in the final of the Bounce Back Football tournament at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence. The event, which is a collaboration of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport (MCYS) and Kashif and Shanghai Organisation (K&S) has set the kick-off time for this match at 18.00hrs. In keeping with the COVID-19 parameters, no spectators are allowed in the venue for the match but the showdown will be broadcast live on NCN Television, E-Networks and MCYS Facebook page. On the first of the two-night tournament, all four teams played completely contrasting football which worked to their advantage. However, the teams with the least mistakes advanced to the final round.

In the opening match Linden defeated East Coast 4-2 with a composed brand of football while the losing side in that match was the aggressor, but failed on numerous occasions to find the final touch. The score line should have seen at least 4 more goals to Linden’s tally but they too were guilty of not finishing easy opportunities.
Added to that, the opposition’s main goalkeeper picked up an early injury which hampered his performance in the first half in which they (East Coast) conceded the first two goals.
With no trained replacement, an improvised move was made to put an inexperienced player between the uprights for the second half. That should have been the green light Linden needed to steamroll the East Coast but they could manage to put only two goals past him because their attempts kept finding the only obstacle in front of goal.
Meanwhile, East Coast’s pace was troublesome for the Mining Town team but with not much team chemistry and no players backing up near goal, umpteen chances were carelessly squandered but two shots managed to find their way into the back of the net for them.

Linden may find themselves in the same scenario at kick-off time this evening since the Georgetown team emerged victorious from a high octane battle with West Demerara.
It was a match that showed a lot of players displaying fatigue as crunch time drew near with the scores level.
Prior to that, equal chances were given on both sides while the play manufacturing was at a good standard. A few simple aspects of that match showed that even though it was a night of ‘All Stars’, their anticipation level was quite low in the 18-yard box.
The feature match saw the weight of the contest being shifted on several occasions but the final result saw Georgetown advance after a 3-2 win over West Demerara.
While the hardware for the tournament victors and runners-up are already on display, the finalists will receive an undisclosed incentive for their efforts. According to the federation, they plan on revealing the incentives at the closing ceremony.