The Sangre Grande community came out in its numbers on Friday for the 2nd annual Saving Our Selves (SOS) Football Tournament which kicked off at the Foster Road Recreation Ground.
Taking on Young Guns in the final, “Cool It” took control early through Kendis Garcia. Collecting a long pass from the back, Garcia, facing the wrong way, trapped and turned in one smooth motion before firing into the back of the net with a powerful right-footed shot. Young Guns struggled to get into rhythm and went into the interval behind 1-0.
“Cool It”, looking to preserve their advantage, invited pressure and almost paid for their strategy when Young Guns hit the post after an intricate buildup. It was the closest they would get to an equaliser as the final whistle sounded. Young Guns earned $5,000 for their runner- up finish.
Take That and Cool It had earlier defeated Soca Fete 1-0 on penalties in their semi-final which had ended 0-0 while Young Guns ousted Dream Team II similarly after another goalless encounter.
In the quarter-finals, Take That and Cool It took on a strong Boys Town team in a tense clash. Cool It struck first with a simple tap-in courtesy some atrocious defending by Boys Town from a free-kick. But with time running out, Boys Town’s Isaiah Phillip made a strong run from defence before passing left to Irvin Reyes who took one touch and rifled a left-footer past the goalie to make it 1-1 and send the game into penalties.
Cool It would net the first and with the pressure on Reyes to deliver for a second time, he could not replicate his heroics as his side was booted out. In other quarter-final matches, Dream Team II beat Xpress Overcome 3-2 on penalties after a stalemate, Soca Fete got past Quash Trace on penalties following a 1- 1 draw and Young Guns beat Dream Team I 1-0.
After the competition, organisers Akeem Timothy and Keron Pierre were both pleased with how the day’s activities were conducted. An after-party brought the curtain down on the Labour Day action.