CG Poseidon, Malabar Youngstars advance to EFA final

CG Poseidon and Malabar Youngstars advanced to the final of the 2024 Eastern Football Association (EFA) league season when they earned respective semifinal victories over Natural FC and FC Santos Arima on October 6.

At the D'Abadie recreation ground, CG Poseidon were trailing Natural FC 1-0 at the half after a 26th-minute goal from Roshan Hamilton. In the 57th minute, Poseidon's task got harder when referee Gordon Maloney sent off Joseph Thomas for a professional foul just outside the area.

Despite playing with ten men, Poseidon dug deep to turn the game around in the latter stages, as they got an equaliser from Zedane Ravalla in the 71st minute, before Kadeem Robertson bagged the winning item in the 76th minute to secure a 2-1 result.

At the George Boyce recreation ground, D'Abadie, Malabar Youngstars were involved in a five-goal thriller as they came out on the right side of a 3-2 finish against FC Santos in a game which was decided in extra time.

The teams could not be separated after 90 minutes in the tight semifinal encounter, and Malabar captain Renaldo Francois saw his 25th-minute goal cancelled out by Santos attacker and player/coach Mikheil Peters in the 43rd minute as the teams ended regulation squared at 1-1.

In the 30 minutes of extra time, drama ensued as Santos captain Jamal Ollivierie was shown a red card in the 94th minute for denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity.

In the form of striker Jorel Grant, Malabar took the game by the scruff of the neck in the first period of extra time, as the young attacker scored twice in four minutes to give his team a 3-1 lead heading into the second half of extra time.

Malabar did have a nervy end to the contest, as Peters converted a penalty deep into stoppage time to cut the deficit to 3-2. There wasn't enough time for ten-man Santos to complete a dramatic comeback, though, and Malabar will now advance to the October 20 final, where they will meet Poseidon in a battle for the EFA league title.

Both Malabar and Poseidon have shown their mettle in the 2024 campaign, as they topped their respective groups. Malabar won all six games in group B, with Poseidon rattling off five wins to go along with one defeat in group A.

Malabar then progressed to the semis with a 3-1 win over Eastern Connect FC in their quarterfinal matchup, with Poseidon edging United AFC 2-1 in their quarterfinal meeting.

EFA holders Maloney Eagles' own title quest came to a crashing end when they were thumped 6-2 by Natural FC in the quarterfinals.