The stage was set for Garifuna Settlement Day celebrations the next day, and all that was needed to make it perfect, was for the Culture Capital’s Ilagulei to overturn the 3-2 loss they suffered a week earlier against F.C. Belize in Belize City; and that they did on Tuesday night, November 18, at the Carl Ramos Stadium in Dangriga, coming back from a 1-nil deficit in the second half to register the 2-1 victory and clinch a spot in the finals for the 2008 RF&G Insurance Cup. With one victory apiece, and each having an aggregate of 4 goals from the two games, Ilagulei gets the edge according to competition rules by virtue of their scoring 2 “away” goals versus F.C. Belize’s only 1.
It was a disappointing end to a sensational season for F.C. Belize, whose only defeat has come at the semifinals. Both F.C. Belize (north zone) and Ilagulei (south zone) were #1 seeds in their respective zones. But by a strange BPFL format, they were matched against each other in the semis.
Both clubs in Tuesday night’s semifinal climax were expected to be short-staffed. The league’s office secretary on Thursday last gave us the names of two key players from each team who were to serve one-game suspensions as a result of accumulated yellow cards, each having received a yellow in their previous encounter. F.C. Belize, we were informed, would therefore be without the services of striker Jeromy “Jarro” James and midfielder Mark “Kelo” Leslie, while Ilagulei would have to play without midfielders Kareem Haylock and Elroy “Bibs” Kuylen.
After a scoreless first half, F.C. Belize’s young star striker Byron Usher put the visitors in front at the 55th minute, and for the next 11 minutes they held that commanding position, since a draw was now not enough for Ilagulei. But home team Ilagulei, like F.C. Belize did a week earlier, were inspired by the drums, and came back strong, with goals from Jeremy Archer at the 66th and Gilbert Swazo at the 87th minute for the spectacular 2-1 victory.
For F.C. Belize, the loss is especially bitter, as they will not even achieve national sub-champion status, having suffered their only loss of the season in the semifinals, and actually lost the series by the slimmest of margins.
But for the victors, Dangriga’s Ilagulei, it couldn’t be sweeter, having suffered the anxiety of trailing late in the match, and then coming back to claim the hard earned victory on the eve of Settlement Day celebrations.
The stage is now set for a real North-South collision in the finals between Nizhee Corozal of the north and Ilagulei of the south. (Nizhee defeated BDF, 4-2, in the other semifinal on Sunday, November 16, at the MCC, having also won the first game, 3-1, a week earlier at the Ricalde Stadium in Corozal.)
One gets the feeling, the “cards” having played such havoc in the playoffs, that, should Ilagulei be successful against Nizhee, F.C. Belize may be agitating for a “bragging rights” exhibition re-match with Ilagulei, where they both can field their best teams. After all, fans of Jarro and Kelo will likely boast that they were not defeated on the field this season.
But, first things first, and Ilagulei would be well advised not to look past Nizhee Corozal; after all, their only meeting this season, an out of zone match, was a 2-2 draw in Dangriga. It’s Nizhee Corozal against Ilagulei, north vs south, in the 2008 BPFL finals series!
F.C. Belize protests; BPFL says the FFB will decide
Sunday’s finals questionable
As we went to press tonight, KREM sportscaster Ejay Hill reported that information received indicates that F.C. Belize has protested Tuesday’s game, citing that player Kareem Haylock, who should have been serving a suspension, performed in the game for Ilagulei. This morning, we received the league’s game results by email, but it included no official word about a protest.
At 6:55 p.m. tonight, we called BPFL Commissioner Maito Perdomo, who confirmed that indeed F.C. Belize had played the game under protest, and had forwarded a protest letter this afternoon. According to Perdomo, ever since the BPFL’s re-admittance back into the FFB about three years ago, the FFB has exercised jurisdiction over all protests, appeals and disciplinary matters.
Presently, there are no BPFL members on the FFB’s Protest Board or Disciplinary Committee, and a number of the FFB officials are out of the country, presumably with the U-17 team in Panama; presumably, because we have received no information about the national U-17 or the Panama trip from the FFB. Sunday’s first game of the BPFL’s national finals series is therefore still questionable, says the BPFL Commissioner, pending the decision of the FFB.