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.

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

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. 

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:

1^st  Transfer Window:

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

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

2^nd Transfer Window :

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

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.