The boys of the East Coast Academy have been crowned champions of the Tiger Rentals Under-13 League Cup.
The youth team defeated Bartica 1-0 on Sunday (May 7) in one of the most thrilling junior finals played at the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) National Training Centre, Providence, East Bank Demerara.
Kennard Halley scored the lone goal in the 40th minute of the game.
The two teams were undefeated during the May 5 and 6 group stage of the League Cup Championship, booking their places in the final match by topping Group A and B with 12 points each.
Key players on both sides were fit and in form after playing four games each over the last two days.
Bartica defended well, but after several attempts Halley was able to penetrate their defence to score a memorable goal.
GFF Wayne Forde congratulated the 10 participating regional academies and commended his team headed by Technical Director Acting Bryan Joseph on organising a successful three-day tournament.
“I think we saw some remarkable talent and I’m excited. What this has proven to us is that while we are doing a lot of good work at the academy level, academy kids need to be playing against each other more often. It’s only when the best players play against the best players that real growth takes place,” Forde noted.
He added that Tiger Rentals, the federation’s key corporate partner for the league, “is also very happy and we’ll be sitting down and discussing the plan for the next edition of the Tiger Rentals U-13 tournament.”
Fans and parents enjoyed five exciting matches on the final day. Rupununi Academy defeated Georgetown 3-1 to secured third place overall, with Georgetown in fourth, Upper Demerara fifth, East Bank sixth, West Berbice seventh, East Berbice eighth, Essequibo/Pomeroon ninth and West Demerara 10th.
Tiger Rentals Human Resources and Administration Officer Gaitree Rampersad said the tournament “was awesome” and that the company will be giving “more sponsorship in the near future, for more games across the country.”
The Tiger Rentals Under-13 Inter-Association Development Football League was launched in December 2022 with the Academy Phase competition, which was won by the youngsters from the East Coast Academy Training Centre.
In a post-game chat on Sunday afternoon, East Coast Academy Coach Anthony Benfield thanked his team for their dedication and commitment throughout the League Cup Championship.
“It was an excellent tournament in terms of the competitiveness from each and every one of the teams. We put in a lot of work. Our expectation is for the players to give one hundred percent…the players give even more than one hundred percent.”
He said his team had “to be patient” during the final match in order to secure victory.
The youth league was specifically designed to develop young players’ ability to apply their knowledge of the game and to ensure that they have a competitive national platform to do so. (GFF)
