A goalless draw with the Combined Stars was enough to give St Martin Veterans first place in the Annual Old Madrid Masters Invitational Football Tournament at Greenland Field in East End on Sunday October 20, 2013. Photo: Provided

Action in the Old Madrid vs St Martin encounter at the Greenland Field. Photo: Team of Reporters

St Martin Masters control possession in their game against Old Madrid Masters. Photo: team of Reporters

St Martin had come with the single purpose of reclaiming their crown as Champions of Masters Football in the region after giving up their  title to the BVI’s Old Madrid Masters in St. Martin earlier this year.

Their quest proved successful largely due to the scoring prowess of the tournament’s MVP and Golden Boots co-awardee Norman Lake, as they remained undefeated throughout.

The penultimate match of the tournament, sponsored by Digicel and the Ministry of Education and Culture, saw St. Martin Veterans face-off against Combined Stars with both teams having chances to break the deadlock. However, the goalkeepers kept a clean slate, and particularly Jean-Luc Marçonnet of St. Martin made some excellent saves, earning him the Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament award in the end.   

The tournament kicked-off with round-robin matches between the BVI’s Combined Stars and St. Croix’ Retroactive, followed by the featured match between hosts Old Madrid Masters and St. Martin Veterans. In the opening match, the play was very even and both teams had scoring chances. St. Croix’ star forward Keith Cornelius eventually broke through Combined Stars’ defense to score the game’s lone goal and secure the first 3 points for St. Croix.

All eyes were on hosts and defending champions Old Madrid, who had high hopes to repeat their feat of last year here at home, especially after winning the tournament in St. Martin in July. However, things did not start well for the local club, as the Veterans attacked and defended with equal strength and dominated the time of possession and ball control for most of the match.

Mr. Lake scored early in the first half and again right after half-time, giving Old Madrid their first defeat in more than one year by the score of 2-0. There was also an entertaining youth football exhibition match featuring the Under-15 age group of the Ballstars Football Academy run by Vincent “Nabu” Samuel.

On Sunday, the action continued with the remaining four round-robin matches. STX Retroactive and SXM Veterans first squared-off, with Victor Hodge and Orville Day putting the Frenchmen ahead with two goals in the first half.

The second half saw Golden Boots co-awardee Keith Cornelius score his second goal of the tournament, but it was not enough to inspire the Cruzans to level the match and St. Martin got their second victory of the tournament.

Then, the Combined Stars, determined to shed the “second fiddle” image and show the crowd that they  can compete with the best, used speed and skill to thwart host Old Madrid’s hopes of advancing, scoring 3 goals in the span of 15 minutes and another one on the second half, with Old Madrid’s Sheldon “Doc” Harry saving grace for Old Madrid with one goal late in the match.

 The battle for second place was determined in the final match of the day, where arch-rivals Old Madrid and Retroactive would complete the featured matches.

Old Madrid had never been defeated by the Cruzan squad, and the hosts were not about to allow another visiting team to spoil their fun. A timely goal by Rodney Prince and good defensive play by the Old Madrid defenders and goalkeeper Hannif “Size” James ensured that the hosts earned a victory at their own tournament after all.

The award and trophy presentation followed, with representatives of all the participating teams expressing their congratulations and positive sentiments about the tournament and their experience as visitors to the BVI.

Coach Daniel Lesi of the St. Martin Veterans also made a nice presentation to Old Madrid Masters’ President Mr Humphry Leue.

Third place went to the St. Croix Retroactive based on a better goal average than Old Madrid, second place went to Combined Stars, and the first-time participants St. Martin Veterans were jubilant after collecting their Champions Trophy.

Mr Leue commented, “We are very pleased to have been able to host this tournament for the second year in a row.  Although we expected and prepared for twice as many teams to participate, four of them informed us late that they could not make it after all, so we had to change the format of the tournament. In the end, it all worked-out and I believe that the participating teams and the crowd enjoyed the football action this weekend. We are thankful to the sponsors, supporters and Clubs for making it a successful event.”

Old Madrid’s Coach, Elroy “Manjaker” Mills, added: “Clearly the other teams came well-prepared to face us this year, and we must do a better job in training and practice to continue to compete at the highest levels. We congratulate our friends from St. Martin on their victory, but we are putting them on notice that the BVI Masters will be back stronger and better next time.  We will start preparations immediately for the next regional Masters Football tournament taking place in Antigua at the end of November, where we hope to improve on our performance of this week.”