SVG settle for fourth place in Guinness Street Football competition

After a dull showing during day one of the 2015 Guinness Street Football competition in Jamaica on Saturday, June 27, Mareyna Bar and Grill White Squall/Team SVG redeemed themselves and managed to place fourth in the regional competition.{{more}}

The injury plagued Mareyna Bar and Grill White Squall was managed by Terrence ‘Chiney’ Harry and made up of players Reginald ‘Puff’ Payne, Shelly Williams, Dexter ‘Sadat’ McCree, Jomo ‘Baku’ Brudy, Durwin ‘Ortega’ Ross, Roddie Thompson and Kyle ‘Kyeba’ Peters.

Team SVG had a horrid day one, which saw them losing all of three seeding games played and also losing the services of Thompson to a foot injury. They lost against Trinidad and Tobago 2-1, (goal by Brudy). They were also defeated by Guyana 1-0 and by Jamaica 3-1 (Payne penalty).

However, on the second day of competition, June 28, Team SVG managed to save their campaign after they saw off St Kitts 1-0, following a clinical strike by Ross.

The team was, however, unable to maintain the momentum and was defeated in their semi-final encounter 2-0 by St Lucia. SVG ended up in a third/fourth place play-off with Aruba and had to go into that game without the services of their workhorse and notably best player Ross, after he dislocated his shoulder in the St Lucia game. Now down to a five-man team, SVG faced Aruba head on. Aruba scored first, but then a shot by a Vincentian player ricocheted off an Aruban defender and ended up in the back of the net.

Tied at 1-1 and heading to penalties, a blunder saw an Aruban player seizing a misplaced pass by Williams in the defence. The Aruban forward placed the ball firmly between William’s legs and into an open goal, ending the game at 2-1.

The tournament was dominated by the underdog teams on the second day and saw Aruba sending home Guyana on penalty kicks and Barbados beating Trinidad 5-4 on penalties, after a full-time score of 1-1. Jamaica was sent packing by St Lucia in a 3-1 encounter.

The tournament was eventually won by St Lucia who defeated Barbados in the finals, four goals to one. For their troubles, St Lucia took home US$6,000 while Barbados received US$3,000. Aruba got US$2,500, while SVG, for placing fourth, was given US$1,000.

Team SVG returned here on July 1.

The two days of soccer action also saw performances by Jamaican artistes Aidonia and Diablo.