“So far so good, but we have a job to do still, which is to win on January 1” exclaimed Charles ‘Lilly’ Pollard, coach of the Slingerz Football Club who will take on Santos in the finals of the 3rd Georgetown Football Association (GFA) Banks Beer Knock out tournament on New Year’s Day.
Slingerz got the better of Western Tigers 1 – 0 while Santos eased passed Guyana Defence Force (GDF) 2 – 1 in a dramatic twist of events.
From the initial stages, Slingerz FC were always a tournament favourite and thus far, they’ve lived up to those expectations and the team is now one game away from claiming the competition’s $4M first prize.
However, pundits were hoping to see the ‘West Side’ team pair up against Alpha United, but faith had it planned others wise, since the ‘Hammers’ were outs by the Army and along came the tournament’s dark horses; Santos.
No one ever thought to even mention Santos as a contender but their steady improved has caught the attention of Pollard, with the former Guyana National Captain stating “You can’t take a team like that for granted because they have been playing well and improving in each game. We (Slingerz) will not be thinking that it’s a walk over for us because they didn’t buy their way through the tournament, they played”
Pollard, once Guyana’s most feared defender, was keen to point out that Santos difference makers are National keeper Richard Reynolds and the club’s striker from Suriname.
Meanwhile, asked if he’s comfortable with how his team is playing, Pollard opined that “right now our team got like a one million coaches, but it’s all good because they (the fans) are showing interest in the team. But at the end of the day, it’s up to me and my coaching staff to put the best possible team on the pitch”
He added “We started off a little slow but I think it’s because we didn’t play no competitive football for like over two months and we’re not in the premier league. But I like the way the team is playing right now. All the guys are focused and are committing themselves to the team and want to win this tournament for a number of reasons”.
This is Slingerz’s first time participating in the tournament.