GOALS from Devon Millington and Sheldon Shepherd were all the undefeated Sparta Boss needed to advance to the final four of this year’s sixth annual Banks DIH-sponsored Georgetown Guinness ‘Greatest of De Streets’ Futsal football tournament last Sunday night at the Demerara Park.

Following four exciting exhibition contests, the quarterfinal action kicked off with Leopold Street, Festival City Street Warriors and North Ruimveldt all advancing to the semifinals where they were later joined by Sparta Boss.
The aforementioned trio triumphed via penalty kicks after being held to draws by their respective opponents, while the chemistry of Sparta Boss handed them regulation time goals in the final quarterfinal match of the evening.
The night’s action commenced with Leopold Street meeting West Front Road ‘Gold is Money’ and after a 0-0 score line, the former came out on top 4-3 via sudden death penalty kicks, even as Festival City Street Warriors defeated Globe Yard 2-1 on penalty kicks, after their contest ended nil-all.
North Ruimveldt worked the ball around the playing arena well, but a defensive mindset from Globe Yard prevented any goals from being scored and for the third successive game, penalty kicks decided the winner, wherein North Ruimveldt came out on top 1-0.
The Sparta Boss lineup consists of Millington, Shepherd, Eusi ‘Boneyman’ Philips and Jerome Richardson, just to name a few and they have created a chemistry playing this category of football over the years, understanding each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
Lone goals in regulation time for the night were scored by Millington in the 2nd minute and Shepherd, who has been on target in all of their matches to date in this tournament, putting his name once again in the scorer’s column in the 5th minute. Defence then became their watchword as they came away with the 2-0 win.
The lineup for the semi-finals tomorrow night at the National Cultural Centre tarmac will be announced later, as the four teams will intensify their battle for the top prize of $500 000, a trophy and a place in the national play-offs which will be hosted next year.
The second-, third- and fourth-placed finishers are set to pocket $300 000, $200 000 and $100,000 respectively, while all four teams will collect trophies and the second-placed team will join the winners in the national playoffs.
The Skills Challenge category of the tournament is still in action, but this time players and non-players can compete for the top prize of $20 000, while the sponsor has introduced a Fair Play Award of $50 000 as well for this year’s edition.