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FRANCE AND SWITZERLAND CRASH OUT OF THE SMALL GOAL WORLD CUP

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The knockout stage of the Small Goal World Cup commenced yesterday at The Garden with two likely favorites taking their final bow in the competition.

In the first of two matches, France was on the unlikely end of a 1-0 defeat to Argentina. The lone goal came from Swetes FC’s defender Ruben Rubel in the first half. France, tried as they could to equalize and carry the game to penalty kicks but a resilient Argentina with defensive brilliance secured the important win to move on to the quarter-finals.

The second match between Soccerama and last season’s Champions, Switzerland (Swetes) was as tense as it could be with both teams canceling out each other for the majority of the match. Swetes, however, seemed to have found the breakthrough when a penalty was awarded to them for a handball in the box.

Captain Shalon Knight stepped to the spot to secure the win, but faith would see it go the other way, a convincing strike was denied by the post and Germany had life blown back into them after such a scare.

The game went into penalties,  the best of five,

Germany will now face Argentina in the Quarter-finals on Sunday at 6:30 pm.

OLD STAGERS LIFT ASCFL CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY

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The All Saints Community Football League (ASCFL) ended in grand style as Old Stagers defied all the odds after losing 5-0 to Police in their first match of the season to an emphatic comeback win over Police 3-2 at Mc Pond last evening.

League stalwarts, El Hombre, secured an easy 3rd place trophy after 5 Star Kitchen opted not to contest for the 3rd spot. El Hombre had beaten 5 Star Kitchen 1-0 by a Karique Knight strike, a rematch was highly anticipated but the kitchen decided against another possible loss to El Hombre.

The feature match took center stage, the All Saints iron band gave the vibes that something spectacular was about to happen with their sweet melody beating in your ears minutes before kickoff, Old Stagers in their bright colored jersey could signal a plane if they all stood together in the dark. Police, also poised on lifting silverware in the All Saints League were focused on the task at hand. 

Police signaled their intent early in the match and used an early chance through Stephen Hughes to make it 1-0 in the 5th minute of play. The park went silent, almost in disbelief of what they thought the outcome would be.

The old boys fixed their shin guards, tucked their shirts in their pants, and went running again, trying to equalize and at the same time trying their utmost best to not go 2-0 under. Relief and jubilation came in the 24′ when Conroy “Pengo” Browne slotted home an attempted clearance at the back post to bring the game level.

The lead would be restored in the 40′ when a poor freekick attempt by Old Stagers left them vulnerable to a Police counter-attack. Jean-Pierre Williams evaded the oncoming Simon in the goal and a powerful right-footed shot hung up into the roof of the net, was nothing short of a beauty with the ball millimeters from going for a goal-kick. 

Mc Pond was buzzing, both fans were in agreement that the goal was a beauty, and couldn’t take anything away from it. The game continued with both teams still applying pressure with changes being made. When you thought surely, Police were gonna take this one, Juwan Roberts happened, the midfielder who had scored the winning penalty versus El Hombre in the semifinals showed up again to equalize the game at 2-2 in the 57′ of play with a close-range effort.

The fans that were leaving quickly ran towards the celebrations because their beloved Old Stagers stood a chance again to win the ASCFL for the first time, Police were shell-shocked and the experience of the players proved to be worthwhile. 

Defender Jamarlie Stevens grabbed the winner in the 61′ with a close-range banger, inviting scores of spectators onto the field to celebrate the goal and the eventuality of lifting the championship trophy. 

Old Stagers completed a wonderful season in a league that was missed for years by the footballing fraternity. In the closing ceremony, Hon. Jomale Pringle, the representative for All Saints East & St.Luke and one of the many sponsors commended organizers Lemuel Ralph, Wayne Phillip, and Nick Fenton on bringing back the league and vowed to make the cash prizes a lot more than was offered this year.

Golden Gloves – Meyer Bailey 

Best defender – Roneba Cordice
Golden Boot –Joshua Samual
MVP –  Micheal Stowe
Natto Hurst MVP awards- Shafeeq Joseph

GRENADES HAS ENTERED THE RACE FOR DETERVILLE

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Reports indicate that Grenades FC has entered the race for the signature of Raheem Deterville from Old Road FC. 

Interestingly, the request sent to Old Road from Grenades asked for RAHKEEM DETERVILLE, the twin brother of RAHEEM DETERVILLE. 

Grenades renewed their attempt after efforts to sign the player for the upcoming Club Shield didn’t go as planned. Old Road, up until yesterday, rejected a transfer request from All Saints Utd for last season’s premier league Golden Boot winner. 

In all the attempts to sign the talented forward, it all comes down to where he puts his signature, the FA sent out notice that no transfer or re-registration will be done unless accompanied by the signed form by the player in question. This precaution was taken to seize the number of complaints from players that clubs re-registered them without their consent in the FIFA Connect system. 

Indications from the Old Road camp suggest that they will not try and block the move of the player to any club once the request is either sent again by All Saints United or sent back by Grenades with the correct name. 

Raheem Deterville may have a new home before the week is finished and brandishing a new logo at the beginning of the premier league season that is tentatively set to kick off on September 21st, 2024. 

ABFA TRANSFER WINDOW OPENS AND LEAGUE START DATES ANNOUNCED

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The local football governing body, the Antigua & Barbuda Football Association (ABFA)  has sent correspondents to their member clubs via email informing them of the opening of the transfer/registration periods along with other important information to include the suggested kick-off dates for their three divisions.

Registration Periods

The Players Registration/ Transfer period for the Antigua and Barbuda Football Association will as follows:

1st  Transfer Window:

 Amateur (Local Players)- (FIFA Connect System) July 8th  – September 21st , 2024

Professional & International Players (FIFA TMS System) – June 30th  – September 14th 2024

2nd Transfer Window :

Amateur & Professional (Local & International)  – January 1st to January 31st , 2024

 Kick-off Start Dates

The ABFA National Leagues potential kick- off  dates are as follows as follows:

  • ABFA Second Division start date: September 16th, 2024
  • ABFA First Division start date: September 17th, 2024
  • Antigua Premier League (APL) Start date: September 21st, 2024

8 TEAMS QUALIFY FOR THE KNOCKOUT STAGES OF THE SMALL GOAL WORLD CUP

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In the Small Goal World Cup, 11 teams divided into two groups competed for the cash prize of $3000.00 EC dollars, however, there are stages to the final match and we have reached the first hurdle to get to the top.

Eight (8) teams qualified for the Knockout stage, four from each group, Switzerland, lead by Shackwon Simon and Shalon Kinght topped Group A on 10pts, Oshane Blackwood and his Argentina team were in second, also on 10pts but Switzerland were superior on goal difference (10). Curtnie Roberts led his Morroco team in goal scoring into the 3rd spot and Malique Martin and Kemar Simpson carrried Brazil to 4th place to secure a knockout spot.

In group B, Tyrai Francis lead his Italy team in securing top spot on 9pts. Ngozie Harvey lifted Snegal to 2nd place, Rokeba Cordice marshalled his France troops into 3rd and the Fresh and Easy Supermarket sponsored Germany, lead by Wilton Rhodes and Ne’quan Tanner secured the final spot for the knockout round.

Each team that qualified for the Knockout stage will receive $200 EC cash and an additional $200 EC for advancing to the semi-finals. Knockout games will begin on Thursday 11th July, 2024. All matches being played at THE GARDEN.

POLICE AND OLD STAGERS TO MEET IN ASCFL FINALS

The final is set after an exciting return of the All Saints Community Football League. A historic year indeed as Police and Old Stagers are to feature in the competition’s finals for the first time since the league’s first installment many moons ago.

Both teams are coming from Group B, Police enjoying victory over Old Stagers in the group stage by a 5-0 margin. All that was before Old Stagers went shopping for additional support making shock waves in the league and ultimately reaching the finals through a penalty shoot-out over El Hombre. Police also booked their ticket to the finals by way of a penalty shoot-out over 5 Star Kitchen.

The finals will be played on Wednesday 1oth July 2024 at the MC Pond playing field. The third-place match between El Hombre and 5 Star Kitchen will play first at 6:15 pm then the championship match between Old Stagers and Police at 7:30 pm.

OLD STAGERS BOOK FINALS PLACE IN ALL SAINTS COMMUNITY LEAGUE

What a time to be alive !!

History continues to be made in the All Saints Community League,Old Stagers booked their spot into the finals of the league for the first time in the team’s existence.

While the named says “Old Stagers” the team is comprised of some household names in the football fraternity with the likes of Tomorley “Ziggy” Thomas, Randolph “Etty” Burton, Kieth Kelly, Juwan “Pampy” Roberts and Javorn “Bozo” Stevens, just to name a few.

Playing against an equally start studded line-up in former league champions and currently the longest serving team in the league, El Hombre, boast popular names of their own like Gason “Bubbla” Gregory, Kendukar “Dukes” Challenger, Raheem Deterville, Vashami “3Boss” Allen, Roneba Cordice and even D’Andre Bishop.

Stars among stars was in full effect in the lone encounter of the evening, while El Hombre saw the majority of the chances, they couldn’t seem to find the back of the net, being wasteful to say the least. The half chances that were presented to Old Stagers were dealt with beautifully my young national U20 goalkeeper Meyer Bailey, stopping Old Stagers’ best chance after a Juwan Roberts’ header from a corner was gold-bound.

With the game ending 0-0 at regulation time, penalty kicks would be the deciding factor in an intense match up with tempers only flaring between fans of both teams but in all good spirit of the game.

In the best of five kicks, the goal keepers Ezard “Hollis” Simon (Old stagers) and Mayer Bailey ( El Hombre) were the centre of attraction. They showed heart and experience mixed with good judgement in the impressive shootout. Bailey came up with two brilliant saves out of the five he faced while Simon saved two and the other eluding the goal post entirely. Ultimately. it was Swetes Fc’s midfielder Juwan Roberts’ last penalty that brought it home for Old Stagers.

Old Stagers ended up victors 3-2 and now wait in the finals lounge on either Police or 5 Star kitchen and that match plays tonight at Mc Pond 7:30pm.

ARGENTINA AND SWITZERLAND PICK UP MUCH NEEDED WINS IN SMALL GOAL WORLD CUP

The Small Goal World Cup continued at The Garden yesterday, 3rd July with the customary double-header. Argentina made light work of a struggling Netherlands team, defeating them 4-0 in the first encounter.

English Harbour’s target man in the ABFA’s Second division Oshane Blackwood got his name on the scoresheet and three other goals came from unfamiliar faces in the likes of Jahfique Hodge, Tyrique Francis and Kymani Francis to give Argentina a comfortable victory of the young Netherlands team.

In the second encounter, Switzerland left it until near the end to grab the winner over Spain by a 1-0 margin. Swetes FC’s forward Shalon Knight gave his team a much-needed boost towards the quarter-finals round of the competition.  

Switzerland and Spain are both on 4 points with Spain boasting a superior goal difference (2) and are in 3rd in the standings and Switzerland sits in 4th. Four (4) teams will move on to the quarter-final round after the completion of the group stage.

GERMANY SNATCH LATE WINNER AGAINST STRUGGLING PORTUGAL IN SMALL GOAL WORLD CUP

In the feature match last evening, both teams were in search of their first win in the Small Goal World Cup. The young and robust Fresh and Easy Supermarket Germany, coached by Lorraine Charles and managed by Ether “Manage” Anthony faced off against Portugal in an evenly contested matchup.

Germany entered the match with one point after holding off France to a 0-0 draw on Sunday. Portugal were winless in their first two showings, going down 4-1 to Senegal and 1-0 to Italy.

In the feature match that was filled with half chances and a scoreless first half, it was Jaden Joseph for Germany who would eventually break the deadlock in the second half with a composed finish into the back of the net. 

His late strike sent the crowd into an uproar after they were knocking on the door with every wave of attack toward the Portugal goal. The win will secure Germany’s playoff spot and send Portugal crashing out with one game still left to play for pride.

ITALY DEFEATED SENEGAL TO GO TO THE TOP OF GROUP B IN THE SMALL GOAL WORLD CUP

In the sternly contested match between Italy and Senegal in the first encounter of a doubleheader in the Denfield “Tody” Thomas Memorial League in Table Hill Gardens, Senegal was handed their first defeat of the tournament.

The tournament this year was dubbed the “ SMALL GOAL WORLD CUP” where teams had to choose names of countries to represent and Table Hill Gardens was renamed ” The Garden” as the venue for the matches.

Senegal came into the match undefeated after making light work of France and Portugal in their first two encounters, defeating both teams by a 4-1 margin with Ngozie Harvey and Akeem Weekes leading the line. Italy coming off of the heels of a 1-0 win over Portugal where poised to upset the  African nation.

All Saints United midfielder Tiquan Isaac broke the deadlock and handed his team the lead within the first half. Italy would double their lead after substitute Rodney Lawrence was introduced in the second half as he made his first appearance for the season.

Ngozie Harvey pulled one back for Senegal to give them what resembled a lifeline back into the game but it was Lawrence once again to extend his team’s lead and secure the victory for Italy and a first taste of defeat for Senegal. 

Italy complete their round of matches with an accumulation of 9 points from four matches, losing once with a plus two (2) goal difference. Senegal with one game remaining against  Fresh and Easy Supermarket Germany on Thursday to try and top Group B.