Georgetown FA Senior League KO round kicks off on Sunday

Oct 29, 2022 Sports

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Santos to tackle Pele, GFC will oppose Vengy; losers go home

Kaieteur News – It has come to the stage of reckoning when mistakes made would cost teams a place in the final four when the knock-out phase of the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) Senior men’s League commences at the GFC Ground, Bourda, on Sunday, October 30^th.
The first two quarter-final matches are slated to take center stage and fans, supporters, and lovers of the beautiful game can look forward to a potentially pulsating night of exchanges.
From 17:00hrs, the home team Georgetown Football Club (GFC), the oldest known club in Guyana will hope that their home advantage will count when they line up against Vengy, one of the newest clubs and predominantly made up of Venezuelans now living and working in Guyana owing to the continuing challenging times in their homeland.
This showdown from 19:30hrs promises to be energising and no doubt will set the stage for the second quarter-final between two rivals of yore, Pele FC and Santos FC. The clashes between these two sides from time immemorial have been well-documented and always appetising.

Gordon ‘Ultimate Warrior’ Brathwaite notes: “The game between Pele FC and Santos FC brings together the oldest and fiercest present rivalry among football clubs in Guyana. At present Santos is the senior club by having the status of an Elite Club while Pele is in the First Division. However, as rivalry goes all over the world, present status or position in a league or other tournament means nothing in rivalries. Fans can expect a hard-fought and exciting game as these two traditional powerhouses meet once again on the field and to make it even spicier it is a quarter-final matchup.”
Brathwaite further noted that they’ll be led by Captain Mark Jhalu who will marshal the defence with able backing from the experienced former national player, King Solomon Austin who recently returned home to his original club.
Added support will be had from the hat-trick hero of their last game against Eastveldt, Daniel Gibson, who has a total of five (5) goals to his name in the competition. Also in the fray is another proven stalwart in Calvin Shepherd, also a recently returning player to his first club as well as Julian Joseph who performed outstandingly for the winners of the recent Amerindian Heritage Games champion, Port Kaituma of Region One.

Pele ended the group stage second behind the winners, GDF, and ahead of Vengy while Santos ended third behind the winners of their group, Police followed by GFC.
Santos Head Coach, Trevor Burnette who is a part of the current Senior National Team Technical Staff shared his thoughts on the clash. “Santos and Pele are two of the oldest teams in Guyana and from past times there was always a rivalry between these two teams. The energy that is shown on the field whenever Santos and Pele plays is beyond words. I always think that whenever these two teams play together you will always have a game of high energy and a battle, to say the least.”

The Santos coaches will prepare Santos for this game because their goal is to win. Pele’s goal is to win as well. Sunday will be a battle of teams and of history. Santos players that will be depended on this Sunday are, Darren Niles, Joshua Braithwaite, Stephon Reynolds, Akel Clarke, Randy Roberts, and most of all, Alex Murray.
Meanwhile, the opening match features two hungry sides seeking to showcase that they have what it takes to displace the bigger-name teams.
As for GFC, Head Coach Dellon Cadogan believes they have the goods to deliver the desired results on the day. “As defending champions of the GFA league we will approach this hurdle with no fear, but we will respect the opponent, with the likes of our Captain Ronel McClean, Ravi Coates, Lennox Young, Rondel Petters, and Earl Gill we will get the job done. Even though football is on the day, good teams will get the job done on a bad day.”
Vengy FC will not be under any pressure, but they too have the ambition to move into the semi-finals, but only the winner will earn that ticket. They’ll be depending on the likes of Alberto Hernandez, Jesus Pereira, Carlos Gomez, David Escobar, Carlos Escobar, Gabriel Pena, Luis Vena, and Jose Vasquez to see them past GFC but only time will tell.
The other two quarter-final matches will be contested on Wednesday evening at the same venue from 18:00hsr when GDF will be tested by GT Panthers which squeezed into this stage by virtue of a memorable win over Santos, 2-1. The win for GT Panthers also halted the charge of Elite League Club, Fruta Conquerors.
The last final eight clash features Police and Western Tigers on Wednesday night from 20:30hrs. Western Tigers had booked their place on account of a huge 4-1 win over Eastveldt in the final group match. The semi-finals would be contested on Sunday next at the same venue.

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