Fruta Conquerors, Dennery of St Lucia clash in K&S final today
By Isaiah Chappelle
Guyana Chronicle
January 1, 2005
FOR the second time in its 15-year history, the Kashif & Shanghai Christmas Football Festival will have an international final, with one-time champion Fruta Conquerors clashing with Dennery of St Lucia at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground, today.
In the second match, CariAir Western Tigers and Eagles United will clash in a winner-take-all match, in place of the third place play-off, following Topp XX being booted out of the championship by the Guyana Football Federation.
Conquerors are poised to claim a record-equalling feat - to become the second city club to win the championship a second time, Camptown being the first.
They have the artillery and depth to do it - two hot strikers in Anthony Abrams and Dexter Bentick with foreign experience, and perhaps the championship's best goalkeeper Shawn Johnson who stopped three penalty kicks in the semifinal.
Perhaps it is a blessing in disguise that defender Neville Stanton will not play, because the team cannot afford losing any players during the game.
And with the experience Jermaine Brown who brought stability to the midfield, Neil Hernandez could concentrate on engineering the build-ups. But the coaching staff will have to forget sentiments about having a guest player on the field ahead of club players, and desist from taking off Browne to make way for them.
When Brown was substituted in the semifinal a glaring gap was created in the midfield, which gave Topp XX a free run. However, Topp XX did not convert the chances created.
Also, club players must give Brown the ball, not what happened in the 1999/2000 final when he was treated as a real guest player, having no work to do because he was not given the ball. He eventually scored their lone goal, a first half equaliser before they lost 3-1 to Topp XX.
Accuracy in finishing will be the key to winning the coveted title and top prize of $700 000.
Opponents Dennery have shown that they play with patience and just wait for lapses and the occasional openings to stitch in their goals.
They won their opening match, by waiting until Amelia’s Ward were weary and gradually exerted pressure in the last ten minutes of the game to come back and win 3-2.
They bided their time against the East Demerara side on Christmas Day at Blairmont, to tuck in the lone and winning goal in the first half.
The St Lucian visitors showed that they could also run a fast-pace game, when they met Eagles United in the semifinals. They eventually tucked in two second half goals to reach the final.
A heavy ground condition will also suit Dennery - they thrived in the muddy pitch during the St Lucia championship to hammer La Clery 7-0 then beat Vieux Fort 4-1, to reach the final.
The clash between Western Tigers and Eagles United will add a romantic finish to the championship; both teams lost their places, being booted out in the preliminaries. Eagles lost to Amelia’s Ward, but reached the semifinals while the Ward boys did not go past the first round. The Tigers lost to Santos and reached the quarterfinals, while Santos did not get past the first round.
Eagles can now show off what made them the only club in the history of the championship to play in all 15 stagings, while the Tigers can show why they still draw the crowds, even playing under the Kashif & Shanghai All Stars banner.
Kick-off time is 18:00 h.