Adam Pierre provided a fitting winner with a spectacular long-distance free-kick from just inside the half-line, as the Cox Coaching School of Palo Seco recorded a stunning come-from-behind 2-1 triumph over Trendsetter Hawks of Port-of-Spain in the final of the inaugural Caribbean Stars Boys Under-15 Community Football Tournament on Sunday.
The youth-oriented competition was described as ‘something special’ by the founder of the newly crowned champions, Dennis Cox, who said, "This tournament revitalised the North vs South rivalry which in the past also brought a lot of communities together. The North vs South battle has always been a competitive affair and it's a rivalry that goes way back, so we really want to thank the organisers for including the youths to be part of that tradition, by introducing this tournament."
Playing at the Balmain Recreation Ground in Couva, the final was indeed special as despite making all the early running and pounding the Hawks goal, Cox Coaching School was consistently denied by an agile and inform Akinlade Jones in goal and it was therefore surprising when, against the run of play, Keysan Haynes fired the Hawks ahead, pouncing on a loose ball at the top of the 18-yard box and hammering right booter past a helpless Tevez Houlder.
This goal separated the teams at the interval and on the resumption the pattern of Cox Coaching School dominance continued, but so too did the shot-stopping ability of the pint-size Jones, who enjoyed perhaps the game of his life, pulling off inspired save after save to deny the visitors.
Despite his superb efforts, he was finally beaten by a close-range finish as halftime substitute Akiel Vesprey, slotted home after a period of constant Cox Coaching School pressure led by the hard-working Mikhail Clement.
The turning point in the match may have been when Pierre threatened with a magnificent long-range effort that was acrobatically parried away by Jones, but this magnificent save came at a price as the promising Hawks’ 13-year-old custodian suffered an injury to his hip in the process, thereby limiting his mobility.
Sensing the vulnerability of a visibly injured Jones, Pierre intelligently took advantage and finally beat the compromised keeper with another long-range attempt, this time a rasping drive which flew into the roof of the net and proved to be the match winner.
Canada-based T&T ex-national Aldwyn Mc Gill, founder/president of Caribbean Stars, expressed his satisfaction with the first staging of the competition.
"Looking around T&T and some of the Caribbean countries the standard of football has been dropping for some time. I therefore thought we had to get back to developing the youth talent, and one way to do so was to bring back the North vs South rivalry and to get the passion among the youngsters going again," Said McGill.
"From the feedback, I believe the first staging of the tournament was a huge success, and we now look forward to the All-Star match between the North and South teams.”
A proud Cox said he was happy with his team’s win, stating that it was a just reward for the work his academy put in year-round to develop young players.
“Our teams work hard and do a lot of travel and we have already started planning for 2024 and we are putting things in place for us to have tours to Arizona and Mississippi in the USA and also Jamaica. We must also say thanks to the parents and the community of Palo Seco who as always, have given us their full support," said Cox.
Despite finishing on the losing end in the final, Anthony "Dada" Wickham, the head coach of the Trendsetter Hawks Football Academy and who like Cox has given over 40-plus years of dedication to developing youth football, said he was happy to be part of the tournament and was also credited the organisers, "It's a pleasure that we can get people from the outside of the country showing that interest in the youth and making it their duty to try and give back something to the communities in particular.”
"This competition was community-based and it's something that will help the youths to pursue some of their dreams because as coaches, we are not in this for ourselves, but to try and make sure that the youths have a chance to move forward in their lives and hopefully, they achieve what they set out to do."
On their path to the final, Cox Coaching School and Trendsetter Hawks had captured their respective South and North Zone titles after topping their four-team, round-robin groups.
Down south at the Leo Thompson Recreation Ground in Lumsden, Cox Coaching School got over Gasparillo Youths in a clash of unbeaten teams to take the top spot with a maximum of nine points, due to goals from Mikail Clement, Donovan Drayton, and Jaydon Caprie in a 3-0 win.
Also in this zone, Broadway Attackers avoided the wooden spoon, winning by default from Point Fortin Youth Academy.
In the North Zone played at the Morvant Recreation Ground, Sogren Trace, Trendsetter Hawks had advanced to the final with a maximum of nine points by dominating Laventille United 6-0 in their final game, with braces from Jadad Riley and Gabriel Frederick and one each from Gershom Chase and Kymani Thomas.
Sunday’s results
Venue: Balmain Recreation Ground, Couva:
Cox Coaching School 2 (Akiel Vesprey 34th, Adam Pierre 54th) vs Trendsetter Hawks 1 (Keysan Haynes 25th)
Awards:
Most Valuable Player of Tournament: Akiel Vesprey (Cox Coaching School)
Special Awards: Sandra Pompey, Aldwyn Mc Gill
Final Preliminary Round zonal standings:
North:
Teams P W D L F A Pts
Trendsetter Hawks 3 3 0 0 15 0 9
Carenage Role Models 3 2 0 1 8 6 6
Morvant F.A 3 1 0 2 4 9 3
Laventille United 3 0 0 3 1 13 0
South:
Cox Coaching School 3 3 0 0 12 0 9
Gasprillo Youths 3 2 1 0 8 3 6
Broadway Attackers 3 1 0 2 3 13 3
Pt Fortin FA 3 0 0 3 0 7 0
