TONIGHT the Guyana National Stadium will host two intriguing clashes in this year’s Kashif and Shanghai Organisation’s Football Festival, with Amelia’s Ward United playing Pele and the renewed CBR Mining Milerock coming up against the Neal and Massy Caledonia AIA.
The pundits have been calling for a Pele-Caledonia matchup and so are the players and administrators from both sides, hence if all goes well tonight, same may occur in Sunday’s final which brings the curtain down on the 22nd edition of the tournament.
However, the other two teams in tonight’s contest see it as a blatant disrespect and disregard for their talents and as such have declared that both teams would not make it to Sunday’s final which takes place at the same venue.
Nonetheless, the Milerock/Caledonia AIA game would be a game that football-hungry fans wouldn’t want to miss for various reasons but with the primary one being to see how two professional sides will fare against each other.
The Neal and Massy Group of Company-sponsored side are yet to face any real opposition, having erased New Amsterdam United 10-1, then disposing of San Jose Victoria Kings 3-1 in the quarterfinals.
Milerock’s road to the semi-finals included two-nil victories over Seawall United and Barbados’ Caribbean United, which makes their fixture against the Trinidadians a must-see by all and sundry.
Under new sponsorship from CBR Mining Company, the Brian Joseph-coached side went out and shopped Guyana’s leading defender Charles ‘Lily’ Pollard, brought home the overseas-based Randolph ‘Blackhead’ Jerome, former national defender Carey Harris, Trinidad and Tobago national player Kendal Jagdeosingh along with T&T-based custodian Andrew Durant.
The Milerock squad according to Caledonia and Guyana’s head coach Jamaal Shabazz in various sections of the media will be their toughest challenge.
Shabazz acknowledged that it’s not easy getting players like Pollard, Jagdeosingh and Jerome together on one field, especially playing at the same time and that line-up will cause problems for any team in the tournament. 
Meanwhile, Amelia’s Ward United are flying under the radar, thanks to focus and attention that is being paid to the top guns in Pele, Milerock and Caledonia, but the Travis Waterton-led side are there like the dark horses, opting not to capitalise on the four guest-playing option.
Waterton, a former national midfielder is no stranger to big tournaments, having spent some time of his career playing in T&T with professional club North East Stars and is known for his free-kicks, which to date have left a mark on the tournament.
He has three goals so far in the tournament for a team that lacks another sensational individual player, leaving coach Ceon Warner to set his system around a ‘team’.
Pele, on the other hand, will be led by the tournament’s leading goalscorer in Devon Millington, ace striker Gregory ‘Jackie Chan’ Richardson, Konata Manning and Mervin Joseph just to name a few, as they attempt to replicate their 2008 showing in championship.
The club under coach Gordon ‘Ultimate Warrior’ Braithwaite since winning in 2008 have become one of the most-talked-about teams locally at this time of the year, along with the defending champions Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United.
But with no invitation being extended to Alpha this year, much emphasis has been placed on teams such as Pele, Caledonia AIA and Milerock, while Amelia’s Ward still have the ‘Dark Horse’ label attached to them, making tonight’s double-header an interesting one in this year’s tournament.