BELIZE CITY, Mon. May 29, 2023
Cushioned by a 1-0 victory in the first leg of the championship finals against San Pedro Pirates FC at the Ambergris Stadium on Wednesday night of last week, Verdes FC finished clinching the 2022-2023 Closing Season championship of the Premier League of Belize (PLB) with a 2-1 victory yesterday afternoon in front of their home crowd at the Norman Broaster Stadium in San Ignacio.
With their goalkeeper/captain Woodrow West returning between the sticks for both finals matches, Verdes completely dominated mid-field play in the first half, taking an early 1-nil lead on a spectacular header by defender Marco Zavala. In second half, San Pedro’s top striker Horace Avila made it interesting with his 56th minute goal, bringing the Pirates within 1 goal of making an aggregate tie and possible overtime. But late Verdes substitutions, veteran Jerome “Jarro” James and rookie Eldon “Tuncy” Reneau combined in injury time to put the game out of reach. A centering ground pass from Reneau saw Pirates goalkeeper Selvin Sagastume hesitate long enough in coming out for Jarro to slam home the game winner at the 4th minute of injury time. 2-1 Verdes in regulation, and 3-1 aggregate winners for the 2022-2023 PLB Closing Season championship and their 4th consecutive trip to Concacaf.
Congratulations to the Green Machine!