Tropical Thunder emerged as champions of the Barbados Beach Soccer Championship on Sunday, defeating the Beach Blitzers 6-1 in a decisive final at Browne’s Beach.
Jamar Crouch Grazettes was named Man of the Match for his standout performance, while the team also collected the $10 000 winners’ prize.
The tournament, which featured several weeks of competitive matches at Brandons and Browne’s Beach, showcased some of the country’s top beach soccer talent. Coached by Edwyn Wood and captained by Peter Grazettes, Tropical Thunder dominated throughout the competition, capping their campaign with a comprehensive victory in the final.
During a post-match interview, Grazettes spoke about the victory and said while it felt great to win, he would love to see this particular Barbados Beach Soccer Championship — sponsored by the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment; the Sports Development Unit; Barbados Football Association and the National Sports Council — remain on the local sporting calendar.
“Message to the BFA: we would love it (tournament) to continue and also the national team,” Grazettes expressed while adding that the aim will be to eventually qualify for the Soccer Beach World Cup.
From the first match whistle, Tropical Thunder grabbed an early lead when Romario Savoury hit a bullet of a shot from the right to put Tropical Thunder in the lead within the first minute. Savoury was not yet done, striking with lots of power in the 10th and 30th minute for a merited hattrick.
Between the short man Savoury, putting his solidly built body to good effect, and the tall lad Jamar ‘Crouch’ Grazette, fighting strong in front of goal, Beach Blitzers had it tough marking them both. Grazettes, the younger brother of Tropical Thunder’s captain, Peter Grazettes, scored in the fifth minute. For his brilliance, Grazettes ended the match as a joint Golden Boot winner top with 17 goals along with Jamal Chandler of Sea Breeze, winners of the third-place match.
The first ten minutes of the final provided end-to-end action with Tropical Thunder having that dream start. Draped in pink uniforms, Beach Blitzers on the other end, however, were having a nightmare including an own goal that gave their opponents a 3-0 cushion. Rasheed Phillips scored in the 12th minute of the second period to give Beach Blitzers a glimpse which quickly faded.
With the strong attacking demonstrations from Tropical Thunder making it look all too easy, Akeal Inniss and Tito Grazettes each scored a goal in the 20th and 35th minutes for Tropical Thunder.
The third-place match came down to a penalty shootout won by Sea Breeze, playing in gold uniforms against Bajan Heat in burgundy. Sea Breeze trailed by a 2-0 deficit and equalised 2-2 with a brace from Jamal Chandler in the 13th and 15th minutes. Shae and Shaquan Darlington scored one goal each for Bajan Heat to start the match before Chandler struck.
With mere minutes to go before extra time, both teams played strong but the goalkeepers, Kevin Phillips of Sea Breeze and Tyrell Sargeant of Bajan Heat were exceptional in front of bars.
Since the scores were tied 2-2 after regular time, it meant that the game went into three minutes of extra time. Neither side managed to crack the deadlock, and therefore the match went into a penalty shootout. Sea Breeze, like all the other teams that had to contend with the gruesome sun, managed to hold their composure and win the penalty shootout 3-1 against the Bajan Heat.
(AS)
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