Trinidad and Tobago's Junior Mafia booked their passage to the quarterfinal round of the 2016 Guinness Street Football Challenge Grand Caribbean Finals when they defeated Fantastic of St Lucia 1-0, in their final Group A fixture at Reduit Beach, Rodney Bay, In St Lucia, yesterday.
Junior Mafia, competing in the tougher of the two groups featuring Jamaica, Barbados, defending champions St Lucia and 2012 champions St Vincent, opened their campaign on Saturday with a 1-0 win against Strugglers of Barbados courtesy of a clinical Kerry Joseph finish, before suffering a minor setback, losing 2-1 on penalties to St Vincent and the Grenadines' Pyola. However, they rebounded to beat Medley Mixers of Jamaica 2-0 on penalties in a match that was filled with end to end action but failed to produce any goals in regulation time.
They should have put away Fantastic very early in the contest but the usually clinical Jerwyn Balthazar, who has having an indifferent competition in front of goal, wasted four good opportunities, the most glaring came in the sixth minute when after being played in by Joseph, he hit the upright with the goal at his mercy.
And in what was literally the last attack of the match, Balthazar struck the upright again after Joseph had slipped the ball to him, but the alert Joseph, who followed the play, managed to get in ahead of the defence to slot the rebound home to give Junior Mafia the win.
Medley Mixers, despite going under to Junior Mafia, sailed into the quarterfinals by virtue of 1-0 victory over Fantastic (St Lucia) along with 1-0 and 2-1 wins on penalties against Strugglers and Pyola, respectively, who both had two wins apiece on Saturday to also advance.
In Group B action, Guyana's Sparta Boss (three wins), God Gives God Takes of Dominica, Curacao's Respetboys and Ghetto City of Antigua, with two victories apiece, all progressed to the quarterfinals.
Football icon Dwight Yorke, who is GSFC 2016 ambassador, interacted with fans and shared his views on Day 1 proceedings with SportMax, while Philip Warren Gertsson, fourth ranked football freestyler in the world, thrilled the crowd with his amazing skills as he performed in tandem with T&T's Marc Taylor and Kerron Forde, and Kyle Davis of Dominica.
Quarterfinals
Juniro Mafia (T&T) vs Ghetto City (ANT)
Sparta Boss (GUY) vs Pyola (SVG)
Medley Mixers (JAM) vs God Gives GodTakes (DOM)
Respetboys (CU) vs Strugglers (BAR)
Standings
Group A P W L PTS
Junior Mafia (T&T) 4 3 1 9
Medley Mixers (JAM) 4 3 1 9
Strugglers (BAR) 4 2 2 6
Pyola (SVG) 4 2 2 6
Fantastic (LCA) 4 0 4 0
Group B P W L PTS
Sparta Boss (GUY) 4 3 1 9
Respetboys (CU) 4 2 2 6
God Gives God Takes (DOM) 4 2 2 6
Ghetto City (ANT) 4 2 2 6
La Combinacion (ARU) 4 1 3 3