Debutants Curacao's Respetboys completed a Cinderella run in the Guinness Street Football Challenge (GSFC) when they edged Junior mafia of Trinidad and Tobago 1-0 in the championship showdown of the Grand Caribbean Final in St Lucia on, Sunday.
The final, played at Reduit Beach in Rodney Bay, was evenly poised when a bit of misfortune in the third minute led to the winning item being scored. Junior Mafia were moving forward in attack when a slip on the wet surface saw them lose possession, leading to Curacao breaking with a three-on-one advantage. And Ashar Bernadus, their “Best Player of the Year” awardee, slotted home convincingly to the delight of their bench.
Jerwyn Balthazar came close to levelling the match before the interval, but his sixth-minute shot, after he was played in by Kerry Joseph, struck the side net, and he shot wide a minute later from on the right of goal.
T&T continued to press in the second session as Balthazar again found the side net, but Curacao were content on soaking up the pressure while rigorously defending their one-goal advantage. And when the final whistle was blown, their players were dancing in the rain while Junior Mafia left the pitch with agony and despair written all over their faces.
Following the match, Respetboys captain Kenneth Kunst told the Express they knew they were in for something special. “It is our first year in the tournament but we knew we could have won, or else we would have stayed at home.”
He said one of the team's main strengths is their ability to stay calm. “We keep it calm and never get flustered. Our style is to keep possession and look to build from there. We are looking forward to defending our title next year and become the first team to win back-to-back titles. (T&T won the tournament in 2013 and 2014, but with different teams).
It was indeed a Cinderella run as the team almost did not make it to the tournament, having missed their flight and being stranded in St Maarten. But perseverance led to a private jet being chartered to fly them to St Lucia a couple of hours before competition began on Saturday, and after finishing second to Guyana in Group B, they defeated quarter-final opponent Barbados 2-0 on penalties, following a 1-1 stalemate, before a brace by Suhendy Inees saw them reverse their earlier loss to Guyana with a 2-1 triumph in their semi-final clash.
T&T's Junior Mafia topped Group A with three wins and went on to beat Antigua and Barbuda 2-1 on penalties in the quarter-finals. And a semi-final clash against Jamaica, who they had earned a 2-0 penalty victory over in the round robin phase, saw them come away winners by a 1-0 margin on the back of a clever back-heeled goal by Balthazar in the 15th minute.
In the play-off for third place, Guyana got past Jamaica 1-0 with Gregory Richardson finding the back of the net with a neat left-footed shot in the ninth minute. Richardson finished with four goals in the final to cop the Golden Boot award.
Curacao picked up US$6,000 and an all-expenses paid trip to Brazil for their championship triumph while T&T earned US$3,000 for clinching the runner-up position. Guyana pocketed US$2,500 and Jamaica took home US$1,000 while Richardson received a cash prize of US$500 for his Golden Boot award.