Weekend win earns Wagiya top ranking in B.P.F.L. action
James Adderley
Good evening I’m James Adderley and we certainly welcome you to this final dish of Sports Monday for the year 2007. The RFG Cup Tournament ended the year on a high note with a monster show in Dangriga Sunday evening as Wagiya hosted F.C. Belize, the defending champion, inside the Carl Ramos Stadium.
The home team gets to move the scoreboard in the opening moments when Philip Lewis smashes this right foot that zooms slightly wide. Aaron McLaughlin then works himself into this one on one situation with the F.C. keeper only to launch a high riser.
We’re twelve minutes into the ballgame when Elroy Rowley misplays this shot from Harrison Tasher. The ball bounces to Aaron McLaughlin and Wagiya goes up 1-zip.
Wagiya remains the protagonist and maybe Phillip Lewis could have done better with this chance inside the eighteen. It’s more pressure from the host team when this corner kick produces this vicious header from Maynard Nunez that Rowley somehow handles. At the twenty-ninth minutes Lesbey Castillo dances to his left and lets loose a roller that tangles into the net to make it a 2-zip Wagiya lead.
Of course Rowley must have gotten help from higher sources when he bungles this corner kick and gets away with it. And if you’re an F.C. fan, well duck for cover because Rowley is having a bad day today, especially when he allows Oliver Wiltshire to get on to the scoreboard with this offering to make it 3-zip.
So we go to second half and we’re about to find out if the defending champion F.C. Belize is made of championship material, but we can’t get the full picture from Jeromy James, at least not right now. Nevertheless, relief for the F.C. fans does come at the sixty-third minute when nice ball work gets the pill to Mark “Kello” Leslie who turns to the left and gives the city team its first goal of the match.
The new configuration on the scoreboard does create major tension people and the man in the middle and himself waving the red card to restore order. Eventually Paul Nunez is escorted off the pitch, leaving his team behind with a numerical disadvantage.
Even with a man down, F.C. Belize still pushes the envelope and it pays off when Jeromy James gets this centre and easily converts for the 3-2 score. In the closing moments of the ballgame, F.C. Belize tries to grab a point on the road. Alas, it was not to be, Wagiya wins 3-2 in regulation.
In other results from around the league, Georgetown Ibayani played big over the weekend to beat the Dolphins 2-1 out at San Pedro. The B.D.F. marched over Suga Boys Juventus in a 3-2 shootout at the MCC grounds, this was a nice ballgame, while out west Hankook Verdes and Revolutionary Conquerors settled for a 1-1 finish. As a result, Wagiya is now the new leader of the pack with twenty points, Verdes shows nineteen, both F.C. Belize and the BDF have eighteen points apiece, San Pedro fourteen, Juventus, Georgetown and Santels all show thirteen points each. And guess what, Revolutionary Conquerors find themselves in the cellar with eleven points.
Looking to week fifteen, Santels will host the Dolphins on Saturday, while on Sunday Verdes travels to Juventus. The Conquerors and Wagiya will battle it out at Carl Ramos stadium and Georgetown comes to the MCC Grounds to meet F.C. Belize.
In other football news, the Super League of Belize presented the tenth week match up between Roots F.C. and Barrio Fino at the MCC Grounds Saturday night, and after ninety minutes of play there’s simply no goals to show in the nil-nil final score.
In the only other match concluded, Alpha Barcelona upset Forever Strong Kraal Road in a 1-zip score out at the People’s Stadium yesterday.
Looking at this week’s schedule, on Saturday TexMar Boys take on Estrellas FC, Kraal Road battles Belmopan and Barrio Fino goes to work on Adventurers. On Sunday Benque United D.C. will host Roots F.C.
In closing folks, with the New Years Day Cycle Classic sponsored by Krem all ready for the blastoff, Belizean cycling seems to be engulfed in a dramatic soap opera that has become pretty intense. First, there were unsubstantiated allegations of E.P.O. importation by Team Santino. Santino Castillo, president of this team, immediately sued which brought forth apologies and retractions from the association and a team owner on national media. Still, an investigation was launched by the Association which concluded that four of Santino’s riders should be suspended from the sport because of suspicion of using performance enhancing drugs. Again, Santino took the legal route and applied for an injunction against this ruling by the B.C.A., it was upheld by the courts this morning. This means Team Santino rides on New Year’s Day. But this situation seems to just won’t go away, people. Indeed there are more questions than answers, so hold on as the E.P.O. saga continues to roll in front of your very eyes and we pray that the sport is not stunted and affected too negatively by this vexing business.
Finally, we take this opportunity to wish all Belizeans peace and prosperity in 2008 … May a kinder, gentler spirit prevail. That’s it. Jah over all, I’m James Adderley.
