An­drew Gioan­net­ti

Eight teams will con­tend for $30,000 and a spot in the re­gion­al fi­nal of the sec­ond in­stall­ment of the Guin­ness Street Foot­ball Chal­lenge, when the na­tion­al play­offs kick off to­mor­row, at the Jean Pierre Com­plex, Mu­cu­rapo. The num­ber of fi­nal­ists has in­creased from last year's six due to the im­pres­sive turnout and the ex­cep­tion­al tal­ent recog­nised by or­gan­is­ers of the now an­nu­al event, which has at­tract­ed scores of spec­ta­tors in each of the six zon­al chal­lenges. Mar­ket­ing Man­ag­er for Guin­ness Trinidad, Meli­cia Wil­son, spoke at a news con­fer­ence host­ed by Guin­ness at the VIP Lounge of the Hase­ly Craw­ford Sta­di­um and main­tained that the qual­i­ty of play­ers pushed for the in­crease of fi­nal­ists.

The fi­nal­ists in­clude, re­turn­ing Cen­tral win­ners Foun­da­tion, To­ba­go rep­re­sen­ta­tives Drifterz An­swer Back and Whim, Touch­es (North West Zone win­ner), Mash Dem Down (North West Zone run­ner-up), Merg­er (North East Zone), Ju­nior Mafia (East Zone) and Skil­lz that Kil­lz (South Zone). T&T and Stoke City FC strik­er Ken­wyne Jones was al­so in at­ten­dance and spoke at the con­fer­ence. Wil­son urged that sup­port­ers come out in their num­bers as en­try to the venue will be free of charge. There will be give­aways and en­ter­tain­ment will be pro­vid­ed by reg­gae artistes Mar­lon Ash­er and Prophet Ben­jamin. Com­pe­ti­tion will com­mence at 5 pm. There will be two Groups con­sist­ing of four teams each. Group A in­cludes Drifterz An­swer Back, Ju­nior Mafia, Foun­da­tion and Touch­es, while Group B con­sists of WHIM, Skil­lz that Kil­lz, Mash Dem Down and Merg­er.

The win­ning team will join the top teams from Haiti, St Lu­cia, St Vin­cent, An­tigua and host na­tion Guyana.