BOTH NORTH Ruimveldt and Festival City Warriors displayed grit, stamina and determination in their bid to be crowned the sixth Banks DIH-sponsored Georgetown Guinness ‘Greatest of De Streets’ Futsal football champions last Sunday night at the National Park.

But when the final whistle blew at 01:45hrs yesterday morning, it was North Ruimveldt who proved that they were ‘Made of More’, by withstanding a period of unrelenting pressure from Festival City Warriors, to come away with a 2-0 victory margin and the $500 000 first-place prize and trophy, leaving their opponents to settle for $300 000 and the second place trophy.
The contest, an evenly matched one, was played at a high pace, and started with North Ruimveldt’s Joshua Browne firing the first shot to Festival City Warriors’ goal area that went wide, followed by Eon Alleyne repeating the act for Festival City Warriors at the other end.
The intensity of the action saw North Ruimveldt land themselves in foul trouble early, but it did not deter Colin Daniels from making a solo run to Festival City Warriors’ goal area, where he was thwarted by the defence who stood strong in the 9th minute of the first half.
Several see-saw battles for the opening goal ensued, with both teams who understood each other’s playing style, attacking and counter-attacking with ease and precision, sending the very large and appreciative crowd into frenzy.
At one time, a triangle play between Daniels, Browne and Travis ‘Zorro’ Grant ended up wasted as Grant’s shot was blocked by Daniel Favorite, whose pass to Alleyne was well weighted, but the shot from the powerful striker missed the mark.
Following a nil-all first half, Festival City applied the pressure for all but two minutes of the 20 minutes in the second half, with the ball being played in North Ruimveldt’s area for a period of time, until Gerald Gritten broke loose and made a run for the goal.
He was fouled but won a corner kick that was taken quickly by Grant, whose pass found an unmarked Gritten to calmly slot home the ball in the 37th minute to hand his team the lead, sparking off wild celebrations on and off the playing area.
Two minutes later Grant, who executed a deft one-two passing drill with Daniels, scored the second goal in the 39th minute to not only cushion North Ruimveldt’s lead, but effectively seal the win in a final that was enthralling, riveting, exciting and keenly contested.
Prior to the final, Leopold Street met Sparta Boss for the third-place playoff, where the winner was guaranteed a place in next year’s National playoffs and they too were made to fight hard before coming away with a 2-1 victory in the first half of extra time.
Sparta Boss, who, prior to this and their semifinal encounter against North Ruimveldt had played unbeaten, had within their starting quartet Devon Millington, Sheldon Shepherd, Dennis Edwards and Jerome Richardson.
But they proved to be no match for the lesser known Leopold Street unit, which included Okenny Fraser, Claudio Rajkumar, Omallo Williams and a massive crowd support who proved to be a worthy fifth-man for the South Georgetown-based team.
The noise that erupted when Williams pierced the defence of Richardson to score the opening goal in the 3rd minute was deafening.
Sparta Boss brought on Cleyon Forrester for Edwards and the chemistry began to flow, resulting in the equalising goal by their top marksman Shepherd, following play between himself, Millington and Forrester, Shepherd converted in the 12th minute.
Williams missed a penalty in the 18th minute after Richardson played the ball in the no-zone area, but Leopold Street held on to make sure the scoreline remained 1-1 at lemon time. No more goals materialised in the second half. Millington missed a clear-cut chance to score when he latched onto a loose ball but shot it wide to an open goal and extra time was ordered by the referees.
A regrouped and rejuvenated Leopold Street unit took the playing area and attacked their opponents, resulting in Rajkumar duplicating the efforts of Williams, by placing the ball through the legs of Richardson in the first minute of extra time, following which Leopold Street used defence all the way to claim the third place prize of $200 000, with Sparta Boss picking up $100 000.
The Fair Play award was won by Cross Street.
Three exhibition games whetted the appetite of the fans who waited for the action to begin while Banks DIH handed out novelty prizes including a $100 000 hamper to one lucky spectator.

(By Calvin Roberts)