Point Fortin needle TTO Academy, Panther hold Jaguar to goalless draw on opening day
Scenes from the opening game between Guyana Panther and Guyana Jaguar in the GFF Youth Academy Cup.
GFF Youth Academy Cup
Kaieteur Sports – The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) organized the Youth Academy Cup, a six-day event, which commenced Tuesday at the National Training Centre turf. Featuring some of the top football talents in the Under-16 age group, the tournament includes teams from two academies in Trinidad and Tobago, adding an extra layer of excitement to the competition.
Representing Guyana are two of its premier academies, the Guyana Jaguar and the Guyana Panther. From Trinidad and Tobago, the Point Fortin Academy and the Trinidad and Tobago Football Academy have joined the fray. Scheduled from July 16-21, this tournament aligns perfectly with the GFF’s plans to nurture football from the grassroots level. Recently, the GFF concluded the Blue Water Shipping Girls U15 development programme, which saw participation from over 60 girls’ teams.
The much-anticipated Academy Cup kicked off with an exhilarating double-header. In the first match, the Guyana Jaguar faced off against the Guyana Panther. The evenly matched teams demonstrated solid defence and impressive goalkeeping, resulting in a goalless draw. Both teams displayed tactical prowess from the start, making it challenging to score on the pristine turf, the match eventually ended 0-0.
TTO Academy held off Point Fortin Academy for the first 40 minutes of the play before falling 1-nil.
In the second encounter, the Trinidad and Tobago (TTO) Academy took on the resilient Point Fortin Academy. The initial 30 minutes saw no goals, despite Point Fortin setting up several promising plays, only to be thwarted by TTO’s defence. However, the deadlock was broken in the 45th minute when Michael Joseph scored a stunning goal for Point Fortin, bringing the score to 1-0 just before halftime. The second half featured a few breakaways and near-misses, but TTO Academy couldn’t equalize, resulting in a 1-0 victory for Point Fortin.
The action continued yesterday with two more riveting matches: Point Fortin Academy against the Guyana Panthers, and the Guyana Jaguars clashing with TTO Academy. Detailed coverage of these matches will be provided in a future edition.
