Tournament organizer Marvin Ottley handed sensational seventeen-year-old Gilroy “Bredda” Thurton the MVP trophy yesterday at the MCC Grounds in Belize City after he led F.C. Belize to a 2-nil victory over West Lake to claim the championship of the first Belize City Champions Cup tournament.
The 3rd place match between BDF and Survivors had been cancelled earlier due to the army’s obligations, but the modest turnout of fans was nonetheless treated to a keenly contested match that showcased the blossoming talent of young Bredda Thurton whose confidence is growing with each game played at the top level of Belize football.
Bredda looked on from the F.C. Belize bench during a scoreless first half, in which West Lake coach Brian Cadle threw all his offensive arsenal at F.C. Belize, including the two highly skilled Makin brothers, Devon and Andres, Jr. along with the powerful and fast Ralph Flores from Toledo. Jarret Davis started in midfield along with slick veteran Mark “Kelo” Leslie, while Michael “Suit” Hernandez teamed up with Flores as the twin strikers. The goals didn’t come for West Lake, and in retrospect, Jarret may have expended too much energy in midfield, far away from goal-scoring opportunities, while Ralph was obviously not receiving the ball in good attacking situations. In defence, West Lake started Jose ‘Shaggy” Caceres on the left, Shannon Flowers on the right, Lorenzo Diaz in the stopper position in front of sweeper Leon “Chow” Cadle, and they succeeded in keeping F.C. Belize at bay during the first half.
For their part, F.C. Belize opened the game with young Wayne Miller and multi-talented Byron “Barrow” Usher up front, supported in midfield by some more youngsters, from left to right – Misael Canul, Thomas Castro, Francisco Diaz and another budding star Francisco Briceno. F.C. stuck to their traditional 4-man back line of Ryan Gill on the right, Chris Gilharry sweeping behind Luis Ariola, and Honduran Jorge Estrada on the left. Elroy “Zabble” Rowley was between the sticks for F.C. Belize; while Erick Avila was in the web for West Lake, as Stanley “Jordan” Reneau is still in the U.S.
The changes made the game in the second half, showing the advantage of years of BPFL experience in the F.C. Belize coaching staff, including head coach Anthony “Willie Bo” Bernard and assistant Eian Henry. To start the second half, Bredda replaced Wayne up front, and immediately the West Lake defence felt threatened. Kelo made a run down the middle for West Lake, but when the ball was lost, it was a “contra golpe” to Bredda on the right side and he made a run for it to reach the 18-yard box before Shaggy could catch him. Avila in goal anticipated a cross goal pass, but Bredda saw an opening as he entered the box, and immediately drove a hard, low right-foot shot “to the farthest corner”, as his “old school” mentor Jerome “Peeloff” Meheia no doubt taught him. Goal!!! And it was indeed a game changer at the 56th minute.
Five minutes later, West Lake responded with the change that perhaps sealed their fate. In search of a goal, hard working and fierce tackling Lorenzo Diaz, who covered a lot of ground in the midfield area, was replaced by veteran striker, Tyrone “T-Bone” Muschamp, who has scored many a big goal in a tight ball game. But losing Lorenzo in midfield weakened West Lake.
Immediately, F.C. countered with “fresh legs” in midfield, bringing in Ladyville high school star David Ramos for a tiring Luis Ariola. About 15 minutes later, Bredda almost scored again, but West Lake got lucky when referee David Glenmore Jones let the play go on, as a driving Bredda was taken down deep inside the eighteen. Nevertheless, the tide was definitely in their favor now, and F.C. made another midfield change, more youth and energy in Christian Rodriguez to replace Thomas Castro who had done a yeoman’s job against the hard tackling veteran Kelo Leslie of West Lake.
The nail in the coffin came in injury time, when F.C.’s David Ramos in central midfield found Francisco Briceno cutting through on the right side. Briceno hesitated briefly, drew the defence, and then sent the cross to a trailing Barrow on the left side. Chow tried to challenge, got a piece of it, but not enough, as Barrow’s left-foot shot found the net just under the crossbar. 2-nil, F.C. Belize at the 93rd minute, and the fans knew it was over.
After the game, beautiful World Cup replica trophies were presented to the champion and sub-champion, along with $3,000.00 prize money to the winner, F.C. Belize, and $2,000.00 to 2nd place West Lake. Also, for the only individual award given, the MVP trophy was presented to Gilroy “Bredda” Thurton of F.C. Belize.
Marvin said he would like to express his appreciation for the contributions received from Central Bank of Belize, Belize Water Services Ltd., Barrow & Williams Law Firm, and Welch Law Firm which helped to make the first Belize City Champions Cup a reality.