Quite a remarkable performance from the Juventus manager/goalkeeper, who led them to a 2 nil victory over Sagitun in the first game of a best-of-three series in the 2004 BPFL Championships. Juventus will have to win at home this Sunday, August 8th,to avoid the third and final game which would be played at the MCC Grounds in Belize City. In the last game, Juventus intentionally played an up -ront switching game between Daniel Thomas and Oliver ?Lionheart? Hendricks. Christopher Hendricks? apparent role was to pressure Hilly Muschamp to stay at home in the sweeper position to be preoccupied with keeping a keen eye on him. Chris is a speedy and slashing player, no fanciness, just straight up hungry for the ball and a win. It obviously worked, because we didn?t see a lot of Hilly sneaking into the middle and forward areas. Defensively, Juventus had Kevin Pelayo on the left and ?Toobus? Flowers on the right with Orlando ?Daddy? Ramirez playing his sweeper role and Wilson Brooks playing up front on Ramirez. Brooks? role, as it appeared, was to double up on the attacks on the left flank by Sagitun?s Wilmer Garcia. Wilson Brooks was collapsing on Wilmer and any other Sagitun forward that was threatening or attacking. Brooks helped out ?Toobus? and double teamed to steal the ball away and push it up to their midfielders for the counter attack. On the other side where Kevin Pelayo was busy with the physical and ever dangerous Francis ?Carcass? Arzu, if they hadn?t double teamed there could have been problems for Pelayo. But he had the help of both Brooks and ?Toobus.? Juventus? coach Nunes was crafty enough to play a 4-4-2 formation – four defenders, four midfielders and two forwards. Our Orange Walk sources are saying that Nunes chose that formation specially for Saturday night. Juventus normally plays a 3-5-2 formation – three defenders, five midfielders and two forwards. But because of the size of the Sagitun pitch, which is much smaller than the Juventus pitch, it wouldn?t allow Juventus to spread out the field of play. In Sunday afternoon?s Game Two in Orange Walk?s People?s Stadium, Nunes will more than likely switch to his original formation of 3-5-2. The size of their home field would give Juventus the advantage of a stronger midfield on a bigger field where Juventus is known to play a faster ball. Coach Nunes and his staff, which includes assistant coach, Braulio Arzu, and Oscar ?Popeye? Gutierrez, have been stressing to the team: ?We still don?t have the championship. We will have to play heart and soul. Nothing will be given to us.? Juventus? Daniel Thomas was slightly injured in last weekend?s game and is listed as day to day. Rumors have it that Rubiel ?El Matador? Mendez has been placed on the injury list for the rest of the season with a recurring injury. We have learned that Sagitun plans to employ one of the tactics used by Juventus on their visit to the Michael Ashcroft last weekend ? busloads of fans. Sagitun undoubtedly has to find an answer to three of Juventus?most aggressive players – Daniel Thomas and brothers Christopher and Oliver Hendricks to avoid going out in two games. Even though they have the experience of Marcos ?Magoo? Soto in the midfield who creates space in the middle, Sagitun must use their substitutions wisely. In last weekend?s game they took out offensive players and substituted with defensive players. If they should make the same mistakes that were made in the last match, they could be in for a long day at the People?s Stadium.
