It was time to go down memory lane again.
The second British Airways Football Legends Invitational Tournament kicked off Saturday night at Kensington Oval in front of a modest but appreciative crowd.
After the series of preliminary matches, last night’s semi-finals were scheduled to feature Manchester United against highly favoured Caribbean All Stars and Chelsea against London neighbours Arsenal.
Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspurs, Newcastle United and Arsenal were represented by their legends while a collection of other clubs was represented in the Players Football Association (PFA) team and the newly formed Caribbean All Stars team.
The action started just after 7 p.m. with a rematch of last year’s final involving Manchester United, featuring Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, Quinton Fortune and former West Indies captain Brian Lara, against a strong Chelsea team with players such as crowd favourite Gianfranco Zola, former captain Denis Wise, Gus Poyet and recent Champions League winning manager Roberto Di Matteo.
With an array of talent on the pitch, the two teams combined for an entertaining 2-2 draw.
Newcastle produced a shocking 5-1 result over on Field “B” against Arsenal.
Newcastle were led by former England skipper Alan Shearer, who appears to have lost none of his old touch. He was well supported by midfield pair Ruel Fox and Robert Lee while popular ESPN analyst former Trinidad and Tobago World Cup player Shaka Hislop kept in goal.
Arsenal seemed a bit lethargic and paid the price. With the likes of Michael Thomas, John Jensen, Stephen Hughes and Jimmy Carter in their line-up, the Gunners’ supporters would have expected a greater effort.
Despite losing their second game to hometown boys Caribbean United, Arsenal demolished London neighbours Tottenham 7-3 to advance to the semi-finals.
Tottenham had one win from their three encounters and perhaps needed the guile of current manager Harry Redknapp to lead them.
Danish magician Allan Nielsen was his usual silky self, Andy Sinton displayed some fantastic passing ability and Steve Hodge was less combative than he was decades ago but showed he can still carry the legs around.
Caribbean All-Stars brought a “younger” batch of legends, including Barbadian Gregory “Lalu” Goodridge. They dominated Group B, winning 6-1 over Tottenham, 3-2 against Arsenal and 5-1 over Newcastle.
The Caribbean mix was too hot for the opponents. Trinidadian forward Stern John and countryman Russell Latapy teamed up impressively with 1998 World Cup Jamaican forward Deon Burton and teammate Paul Hall to take the new boys into the semi-finals with style.
Group A was well dominated by Chelsea and Manchester United with each registering two wins, while Blackburn were winless in their three matches.
The PFA side won one of three matches but were crowd favourites, particularly due to their collection of stars. They included players such as Spanish international midfielder Gaizka Mendieta, Peruvian winger Nolberto Solano, and English strikers Iain Dowie and Marcus Gayle.
