SPORTS

CIFA JAC Beach Football scorches Royal Palms

Tigers SC goalie makes a flying leap to keep eventual
runners-up Brazilians from scoring in the early
rounds.

Brazilians launch one of their many attacks on the
Academy SC goal.

Academy and Brazilians lock horns in the final.

Thursday,  June  16, 2005

SUNDAY saw the CIFA JAC Beach football tournament take place at Royal Palms as part of the events and festivities surrounding Jet Around Cayman. The action was hot all through the day, with the uneven nature of the surface (and the promise of a soft landing) inspiring players to terrific aerial maneuvers.

A large crowd followed the action from round one, but was swelled to massive proportions by the time the final rolled around. In what was quite rightly the most hotly contested game of the afternoon, the Brazilian Community Team faced Academy SC in the final.

he crowd seemed to support the ‘local’ team over the ‘internationals’, and was duly rewarded when, after a frenetic first half, Academy led the game 2-1. The second half was however not to go all Academy’s way, as Brazilians scored the equalizer to lock the score at 2-2. As if this was not enough, it was followed shortly afterwards by the red-carding of one of the Academy players for an altercation with an opponent.

his left Academy with a one man deficit, which meant that they had only four players on the field compared to five for the Brazilian team.

Using their one man advantage to full effect, the Brazilians launched attack after attack at the stretched Academy defence. However, Academy remained rock solid in defence, and the Brazilians struggled to capitalize on their advantage.

he crowd, which reacted with extreme dismay at the ejection of the player, was even more vocal when the Brazilians appeared to score a goal a couple of minutes later against the depleted Academy team.

Although the referee allowed the goal, the crowd and the Academy SC players all believed that it was scored off a handball, and were not shy to make their point heard. After conferring with his colleague, the referee reversed his decision, to the great jubilation of the crowd. This resulted in a score of 2-2 at full time. The game was therefore to be decided in a penalty shoot-out.

Penalties did not start well for Academy SC, when their first attempt was blocked by the Brazilians’ keeper. However, the first Brazilian attempt soared over the crossbar, leaving the teams locked together at 0-0. The next penalty attempt from Academy succeeded, as did the attempt of their opponents.

Scores were again locked together at 1-1. Academy drilled home their next attempt, and the game was up for grabs, if only they could stop Brazilians on their next attempt at goal. As Brazilians took their shot, the Academy SC goalie streaked to the left, and managed to deflect the shot, resulting in a win for Academy, and immediate jubilation among his teammates and the Academy faithful in the crowd.

Final score: Academy SC takes the final 2-1 on penalties from Brazilians.

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