Yabra bows to Juventus
Good evening, I’m James Adderley and you’ve just entered that exciting zone known as Sports Monday. Week fourteen of the Regent’s Cup Tournament brought a monster confrontation to the People’s Stadium O.W., where Juventus Stars made a stand against the defending champion Kulture Yabra of Belize, who with a win today could grab a share of the lead in the standings.
If you hadn’t arrived before game time, you might have missed the first goal of this confrontation. Less than three minutes in a maze of confusing traffic, Oliver Hendricks gets a foot on the pill and Yabra takes a 1-zip lead.
Immediately Juventus seeks to reply when Freddie Tun launches this spotkick that creates maximum danger until Shane Moody seizes control of the situation. Landi Pinelo the catches up with this pass in traffic, but squanders an open look at goal.
At the other end, Mark Leslie centres to Sergio Quinonez and this left foot push ties the ballgame at 1-apiece and gives Quinonez his seventh goal of the season.
Folks, its just about five minutes later when Marcelino Tun catches up with a defensive deflection to give Juventus a 2-1 lead midway through first half action.
Now keep your eyes on Robert Cunningham as he gets taken down by Ian Henry for which referee Jones demands a penalty kick despite Henry’s disapproval.
As usual, Yabra sends for Vallan Simms, their hitman, and to the dismay of the city fans, the usually competent Simms allows the keeper to come up with a truly big time save.
Downfield, Freddy Avila finds himself with a scoring opportunity, but tries to find the man in the middle as the Juventus defence recovers. Off this corner kick, Yabra almost becomes a beneficiary of the dreaded auto goal, however, the operative word remains almost and at the half, Juventus leads 2-1.
Straight out of intermission, Yabra looks for the equaliser, but Landi Pinelo fails to execute at a pivotal moment. Still pressing for the equalising goal, Norman Nunez sets table for Oliver Hendricks who chooses to give the O.W. keeper a pass.
Meanwhile, can you believe number sixteen fails to convert–well he does and the scoreboard remains unmoved. And when the long whistle blows Juventus take the 2-1 big W.
Donnie Tun, Juventus
“We have been playing very, very well football a few weeks ago, and today we prove that definitely we can come back and play good football. Of course we are a contender, I don’t think any team thinks that we’re not the playoffs this year.”
Q: How much did you miss your partner Marcelino today?”
Donnie Tun
“Well, when he is in the game, he always brings pressure on the defence, so definitely we miss him and hopefully, he will be back with us in the finals.”
In other results from the weekend that saw Griga and Lazio take a rest, Acros Bombers downed Jacintoville F.C. of Toledo 2-zip. Builder’s Hardware Bandits outlasted San Pedro 2-1, while Corozal F.C. and Acros Real Verdes struggled to a 1-all stalemate.
Thus with four regular season schedules to go, Builders Bandits lead with 31 points, Griga has 30, both Kulture Yabra and Juventus draw at 28 apiece, while real Verdes rounds out the top five with 27 points.
That’s our show for today, but we can tell you that the BFL Regent’s Cup Tournament certainly gonna attract a whole lot of intense action, so stay ready for maximum excitement, as the team make a mad rush to make the playoffs. Jah over all, I’m James Adderley.
