Hope still alive for Belmopan United in playoff bid
Good evening, I?m James Adderley with this weekly serving of Sports Monday. By the time the final schedule in regular season was staged in the RFG Cup Tournament over the weekend, seven of the eight teams headed to the playoffs had already emerged. Question is would Belmopan United be able to maintain its slim playoff hopes against a highly touted New Site Erei ball club of Dangriga on Saturday inside the Isidoro Beaton Stadium.
It?s the Dangriga team with the early pressure and we must remind the Belmopan defence that the ball can?t be booted back to the goalkeeper inside the area; if he handles this ball it becomes a foul.
The referee obviously concurs with our interpretation and as a result New Site Erei has a wonderful opportunity to strike first, only Elroy Smith fails to come up with the conversion.
New Site continues the pressure off this corner kick from Ryan Simpson, but the left foot launch by John Chimilio does miss the target.
However, Chimilio makes no mistake with this pass from Elroy Smith and the Dangriga team takes a 1-zip lead some thirty-one minutes in.
With the playoff dream slipping way, the Capital City gang gets serious. Derys Benavides to Denmark Casey, but the right foot bomb sails over the crossbar.
A few minutes later, Casey delivers this corner kick into the danger zone, Mickey Chavez springs into action and we?ve got a tied ballgame at the thirty-fourth minute.
Just before intermission, Joseph Ingram needs to make this save for Belmopan to keep the game tied, and he does.
Folks, second half brings fewer scoring chances for both ball clubs, but it?s Chimilio of Dangriga with the opportunity to break the tie, only to produce a high riser.
How about this look from Denmark Casey… but his thrust to put Belmopan ahead goes straight to the keeper.
Now watch the Griga keeper mishandle this spotkick launch by Wilhelm Coyi, but then gets lucky to still this particular situation.
Talk about a miserable first touch, people. We?re certain Khalil Velasquez would want this one back.
Rogelio Batres then gets this nice feed from Casey to steal the W for Belmopan, but this miss will remain a mystery.
Both teams settle for the 1-1 tie, but it?s enough to keep Belmopan?s slim playoff hopes alive because of a back match. We?ll get to that a little bit later.
In other results from around the league, Benque Viejo United crushed Cayo Avengers 2-1, Kremandala hurt Placencia Pirates 1-zip, while Wagiya got the 3-1 W over Hankook Verdes. Over in Group B Mango Creek and New Site battled to a 1-1 draw.
Thus folks, only seven teams still remain assured of post-season play. In Group A: Wagiya leads with thirty-two, Verdes shows twenty-eight, F.C. Belize twenty-three, and Kremandala twenty-two. These four teams move on as Placencia Pirates with twelve, Benque Viejo United with eight, and Cayo Avengers with three, must all bow out at this time.
Over in Group B, New Site Erei leads with thirty-three points followed by Mango Creek with twenty-six, San Pedro with twenty-four. These teams are headed to the playoffs. BOCA shows nineteen points from this group, Calcutta Bulls eighteen, and Belmopan United seventeen. However, Belmopan has a back match this Wednesday night against BOCA. A win for Belmopan gets them in; a draw will do it for BOCA. You do the math.
Wagiya and F.C. Belize will also play their back match Wednesday night, but the result certainly will not impact the post-season.
People the playoffs then gets off this Saturday December twenty-four with three matches: Hankook Verdes will see action against San Pedro Seahawks inside the Norman Broaster Stadium; that match is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. New Site Erei will host Kremandala at 7:30 p.m. Saturday night, and Mango Creek F.C. goes to work against F.C. Belize inside the Michael Ashcroft Stadium, also slated for a 7:30 p.m. start on Saturday.
On Sunday, Wagiya will battled the winner from Wednesday night between BOCA and Belmopan United at the Carl Ramos Stadium to round off the entire first round of this year?s playoffs.
In cycling news the Belize Cycling Association presented the ninth annual Alpheus Williams Cycling Classis over the weekend. It ran for fifty-two miles from Belmopan to the National Stadium, now known as the Marion Jones Sports Complex; that?s for the elite riders. For the females, however, there was a decrease in mileage, it totalled thirty.
Alicia Thompson of Swoosh took top honours, beating out Marinette Flowers and Gina Lovell in that order. Over in the elite category it was Marlon Castillo of Santino?s with the big W I the time of two hours, four minutes, fifty-five seconds beating out Barney Brown and Calman Williams. In the junior class it was Domingo Lewis taking the big W; he rides for M and M Engineering. He was able to out-pedal Darnell Barrow and Byron Pope in that order. We say congratulations to one and all.
In closing folks, the Port Loyola Community Grieving Mothers presents family fun day on December twentieth-sixth at the Wilton Cumberbatch Field at Yabra where football, basketball, chess, checkers, dominoes, volleyball, sack race, and lime and spoon will be offered for your entertainment.
We take this opportunity to wish the entire Belizean public Merry Christmas, Happy New Year. That?s it for sports. Jah over all, I?m James Adderley.
