PAYNESVILLE, Montserrado – The semifinals spots in the ongoing National County Sports Meet have been sealed, with Grand Bassa’s and Margibi’s kickball teams reaching the semifinals while Margibi’s and Montserrado’s football teams completed the last spots in the semifinals.
As with the opening day, fans turned out in large numbers at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex on the second day of the quarterfinals games to watch the last eight counties in the football and kickball categories battle for places in the semifinals.
The day began with a kickball match between Margibi and Grand Kru, which was won by Margibi. In a tense match, the Margibi girls managed a 4-2 win over the southeastern side.
Following Margibi’s triumph, Grand Bassa’s kickball team moved to the semifinals with a humiliating thrashing of another southeastern side, Maryland. The Bassa girls dragged the Cape Palmers 7-0 in the second semifinals kickball match to complete the final kickball semifinals place.
The third match of the day brought together 2012 football champions, Margibi, to play Sinoe, which was making its first quarterfinals appearance after several years of absence. With Sinoe finishing on top of their group after two wins and a defeat, the match against Margibi was expected to be important to Sinoe, which was seeking a semifinal spot under their new head coach, Kollie Korvah. As expected, the match was a clash of the titans, with both teams displaying excellent football on the pitch.
Despite showing their class on the pitch, Sinoe was unable to advance to the semifinals after a narrow defeat to Margibi. Former Montserrado and Nimba striker, Daniel Tuazama, scored the only goal of the match to send Margibi through.
It was a defeat for Sinoe, but their midfield maestro, Amara Fofana, had something to remember the tournament with after being named the man of the match. The Gardnersville Football Club midfielder was excellent in both the midfield and defense of Sinoe to keep the score at 1-0 until the 90th minute.
Football defending champions Montserrado advanced to the semifinal convincingly with a big win over River Gee. Coach Samuel Sumo’s boys reached the quarterfinals with a 5-0 win over the southeastern team.
The match began competitively before turning out to be like an exhibition match for Montserrado. The first half ended 1-0 in favor of the football defending champions before returning stronger in the second half to score four goals. Paynesville FC midfielder, Michael Dennis, opened the scoring before Mark Karlay got a brace in the second half to make the score line 3-0. Bright Tulo scored the fourth with a rebound from Robert Coleman’s shot before Adolphus Roberts scored the fifth goal from Michael Dennis’ assist in the 90th minute.
The eight teams in the semifinals has now been revealed and the stage is set to continue the competition. The semifinals will be played on Wednesday, April 18 at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex.
Nimba will battle Grand Cape Mount in the first semifinals kickball match before Margibi takes on Grand Bassa County in the second kickball semifinal match.
The football battle will begin between Nimba and Bong county at 4:00 p.m. before Margibi takes on defending champions Montserrado in final semifinal clash. The winners will advance to the final that will be played on  on Sunday, April 22.
Featured photo by T. Kla Wesley Jr.
