Several teams had enterprising starts on Day One at the regional finals of the 2015 Guinness Street Football Challenge in Jamaica on Saturday, to set up what should be an interesting Day Two of competition.
Sayid Freitas increase T&T’s advantage three minutes later when he dribbled past Roddie Thompson to emphatically hit home and Kareem Freitas almost made it 3-0, but his 12th-minute effort crashed onto the crossbar and rebounded into play. Lewis thought he had notched his second item of the match and T&T’s third after he pulled the ball back off the goal line to score, but the referee ruled the ball had gone out of play.
Thompson would score a consolation item for St Vincent in the final seconds of the game.
T&T’s bright start continued when they came away 2-0 winners over arch-rival Jamaica in their next encounter. Defender and captain Keeron Benito went on a scintillating run from defence to offence in the fifth minute, while exchange passes with Lewis, before finishing off with a thunderous shot to the back of the net. And Benito would turn provider some four minutes later when he again ventured forward to flick a neat overhead pass to Sayid Freitas, who made it look all too easy with a clinical finish that silenced the hometown crowd.
But the defending champions would get a severe reality check in their final group match when a visibly pumped-up Guyana handed them a 4-0 whipping. Devon Millington gave Guyana the lead in the first minute with a clever back heel into the goal and T&T never recovered from conceding so early. Sheldon Shepard notched a brace in the fourth and tenth minutes and Millington closed off the victory with his second item in the 14th minute.
Guyana, T&T and Jamaica all finished their Group A assignments with two wins and six points apiece. However, Guyana’s Sparta Boss, who defeated St Vincent 1-0, topped the group by virtue of their big win against T&T, while Jamaica’s Slash Dash claimed second, having beaten Guyana and St Vincent by 2-1 and 3-1 margins, respectively. T&T took third with the winless St Vincent in fourth position.
And across in Group B, tournament debutants Aruba and Barbados featured in a nine-goal contest, with Aruba prevailing 5-4.
Chai Lloyd opened the scoring for Barbados’s Arm Units in the fourth minute, but two quick goals by Claudeone Cavalcante (fifth) and Alexandre Conceicao (sixth) saw Aruba’s Soccer Giants grab a 2-1 lead. Barbados responded almost immediately with goals by Jamal Chandler (sixth and eighth) and a seventh-minute item by Lloyd to race to a 4-2 advantage. However, the Arubans were not done yet, as Conceicao would score the first hat-trick with strikes in the ninth and 14th minutes while Cavalcante added another in the tenth to give Aruba a winning start.
Despite the loss, Barbados rebounding to seize second place on the back of two penalty shoot-out wins over St Lucia and St Kitts after those matches ended 1-1 and 2-2 in regulation time. St Kitts and Nevis, who quietly earned 1-0 victories against St Lucia and Aruba, finished with six points to top the group on goal difference, while Aruba and St Lucia both earned three points apiece, with Aruba taking third place on a superior goal differential.
All eight teams progressed to the quarterfinals, where Guyana (Group A winner) plays St Lucia (fourth in Group B); Jamaica (second in Group A) comes up against Aruba (third—Group B); T&T (third—Group A) faces Barbados (second—Group B); and St Vincent (fourth—Group A) opposes Group B winner St Kitts.
Fans were also treated to several breath-taking skills from five-time Guinness World Record Holder and world renowned UK professional football freestyler Daniel Cutting, as well as T&T’s premier freestylers Mark Taylor and Kerron Ford.
Standings
Group A
P W L GF GA GD PTS
Guyana 3 2 1 6 2 4 6
Jamaica 3 2 1 5 4 1 6
T&T 3 2 1 4 5 -1 6
St Vincent 3 0 3 2 6 -4 0
Group B
P W L GF GA GD PTS
St Kitts/Nevis 3 2 1 4 2 2 6
Barbados 3 2 1 6 7 -1 6
Aruba 3 1 2 6 6 0 3
St Lucia 3 1 2 1 2 -1 3