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CFU Club C’ship 2012…Alpha beat Milerock 2-nil, but qualification to next round still in limbo
By Sean Devers
Spearheaded by a brace from talented striker Anthony ‘Awo’ Abrams on either side of the half-time
Anthony ‘Awo’ Abrams
break, National Club Champions Alpha United defeated Linden Club Milerock 2-nill last evening in the feature game of their final group match in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club championship at the Guyana National Stadium.
Group Leaders InterMoengotapoe of Suriname got past Curacao side Hubentut Fortuna 3-2 in the opening game of the double header to move to nine points and advance to the next round which is set for May 1-6 in Trinidad and Porto Rico.
Alpha had to win last evening to ensure a second place in their zone since Hubentut Fortuna, like the Georgetown based Club, began yesterday with a win and a loss in this group of the competition.
While the top team of each group automatically qualifies to the second round, only the top placed second placed team of all the groups will join them in the next round and Alpha could only have themselves to blame if they miss out on the trip to Porto Rico.
Alpha squandered several goal-scoring opportunities against a team which finished pointless in the group and were hammered 7-1 by the Surinamese when the teams met.
Watched by a handful of die-hard fans under floodlights and a clear sky, Abrams put Alpha ahead in the 7th minute as he pounced on a rebound from Custodian Darius Frank just in front of the goal mouth after Andrew Murray’s shot was blocked. Abrams then calmly patted the ball past the Keeper and Alpha were on their way.
Alpha, who missed too many chances when they battled the Dutch side, again struggled for penetration and wasted several opportunities to score in both halves of an encounter which produced few sparks and was void of quality set-pieces and had fluctuating ball possession.
While Alpha controlled most of the play they struggled to finish and the live-wire Abrams hit the right cross bar seconds before the half-time whistle as the ball was blocked by a Milerock defender.
Ten minutes into the second stanza, Abrams hit the cross bar from just inside the 18 yard box while Dwight Peters wasted an opportunity to make it 2-nill when he hammered the ball directly to the Keeper from close range after breaching the Milerock defence.
“Our overall performance was not very impressive. Too many wasted opportunities and giving away possession too easily, especially in the attacking third,” Coach Dwayne Dover said after the game.
Ron Fiedtkou showed some spunk for Milerock with out being allowed to score before Abrams again found the back of the net in the 80th minute to give Alpha their second win and in three games and condemn Milerock to their third consecutive defeat in a game of ordinary standard especially towards the end when both teams seemed to tire.
While it is understood that the Guyanese club enjoy a better position than the second place team in the Haiti group it was unclear if they were ahead of the number two side in the Antigua group and a hope Dover informed that by late last night he should have known if Alpha would advance.
“We were below par in fitness and if we qualify we have to make use of the limited time and work on especially our fitness and finishing,” Dover remarked.
Alpha finished with six points from three games and scored five goals and conceded two to give them a goal average of +3.
In the curtain raiser under sunny skies, InterMoengotapo, spurred on by goals from the group’s leading goal scorer Stefano Ryssel (70th), Ives Vlyker (65th) and Jimmy Patrick who scored his third goal from the penalty spot (44th) beat Hubentut Fortuna 3-2.
Jose Adrino Chacas Gomes (45th) and Dwight Belliot (60th) registered consolation goals for Hubentut Fortuna who had previously lost to Alpha 3-1.
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