BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Dec. 14, 2023
Well, the preliminaries are over, and it’s time for the Big Dance in the Premier League of Belize (PLB) 2023-2024 Opening Season Championship Finals, which begin with Game 1 this Saturday night in Mango Creek Independence, and Game 2 next week Sunday in Belize City, featuring Altitude FC vs Port Layola FC.
Altitude will be without their young midfield star, Jardehl Muschamp, who scored both goals in Altitude’s back-to-back 1-nil semifinal wins over defending champs Verdes FC, who must now look to the Closing Season for redemption, after finishing the regular Opening Season at the top of the standings. Jardehl received a second yellow card in his celebration of the game winning goal last Sunday against Verdes in San Ignacio. Incidentally, Verdes went on a goal scoring drought to end their season, going scoreless against Altitude in the final regular season game, a nil-nil affair, and then also in both semifinals, which they lost by 1-nil scores to Altitude.
For their part, Port Layola will be without their veteran captain, defender Ian “Yellow” Gaynair who was red-carded for a dangerous tackle in Sunday’s 1-nil loss to Progresso FC. Raymond Ramos got the only goal for Progresso. Port Layola had won the previous encounter, 2-1, in Orange Walk, so they advanced on the away-goal rule despite the 2-2 aggregate tie. Perhaps of even greater concern, Port will also be without the league’s leading regular season goal scorer, Gilroy “Bredda” Thurton who left the game with an injury and is not expected to be ready for Saturday night’s affair in Independence.
However, both teams are strong in the striking department, and this Saturday night Game 1 clash will feature Altitude’s Dejmari Pop (7 goals) and Andres Orozco (6 goals) and Rene Leslie (3 goals) against Port Layola’s Latrell Middleton (8 goals) and Shawn Young, Jesse August and Steven Baizar (3 goals each).
According to tournament rules, in the home-and-away championship finals, there will be no “away-goal” rule in effect, so an aggregate tie after Game 2 will result in overtime and the penalties, if necessary.
Let’s hope the weather holds up, folks, so we can have a Christmas Eve Championship Final next week Sunday at the Marion Jones Sports Complex.
PLB Finals Leg 1 schedule:
Saturday, December 16
7:30 p.m. – Altitude FC vs Port Layola FC – M.A Stadium in Independence