The Armed Units became the inaugural Guinness LIME Street Football Challenge champions with a nerve-wracking 3-1 penalty shoot-out victory over crowd favourites ABM last Sunday at the Netball Stadium.
In front of a bumper crowd, which included Guinness guest of honour Adrian Hall and Barbados Football Association president Randy Harris, the Armed Unit were the ones that persevered when the penalty-kick pressure mounted.
ABM and Armed Units came into the finals in somewhat contrasting form. ABM beat Strugglers in the two leg semi-final 5-2 (2-2, 3-0).
Armed Units, on the other hand, had stomped all over Top Block with a 10-3 aggregate after 5-1 and 5-2 victories respectively.
ABM, made up primarily of players from Premier League club Weymouth Wales, and Armed Units from the Barbados Defence Force Sports Programme (BDFSP), saw the national league champions up against the Cup champions, setting up a lively showdown.
ABM were being led by Jason Ramsay who came into the final game on 14 goals while the eventual leading goalscorer Kyle Gibson was prepared to inflict some pain on the ABM supporters.
In the second minute, Armed Units thought they had taken the lead when Jamal Chandler’s right foot volley flew by Shawn Clarke, but referee Sadiq Hill ruled in the negative to spark chaos in the units’ camp.
As the game wore on, both teams created a number of opportunities, none easier than Jabarr “Buggy” Greene’s chance from three yards out for Armed Unit.
The ball was played across from the right and with defender Ricardio Morris beaten, Greene opted to take a touch as opposed to the one-time finish.
Since neither regulation time nor extra time could separate the teams, the dreaded penalty kick route awaited nervous fans and brave spot kickers.
Gibson’s miss was followed up by Greene’s conversion and misses from Kemar Bartlett and Duwayne Peters, allowing Chandler and Tremaine Cobham to convert and seal victory for the Armed Units.
Team co-captain Chandler highlighted brotherly love amongst the guys as the main element for the group’s success and pointed out specifically for this tournament the level of commitment displayed by his teammates.
“Commitment, dedication, hard work and togetherness combined, helped us to win this title”, said Chandler.
Sharp shooter Gibson was at a loss for words as he expressed his delight in attaining the title, and is already looking forward to repeating as champions in 2015. “It feels great to win and I’m ready to win it again next year.”
Chandler echoed his gratification as he said it meant the world to win the title, not for his monetary benefits but to make history as the first-ever Street Football winners.
With a whopping 35 goals scored and a mere nine conceded, the Armed Units formed a balanced unit but the goalscoring efforts in this form of the game always outshine the defensive prowess.
Gibson was responsible for 17 of the Units’ goals, scoring four in the semi-finals and coming close on a couple of occasions in the final, only to be denied by sharp defending and the goal posts.
In the female competition, Tie Dye Divas defeated Sharp Shooters 2-0, courtesy goals from national players Joelle Gibson and Tori-Ann Cadogan.
The Divas claimed the $1 000 grand prize and smartphones from LIME.
