I.E. Is
Champion: …At the Mercy of Barrolle
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Tuesday, 9th October 2007
By Michael Gebeh
At long last, Invincible Eleven (IE) has been declared champions of
the Liberia Football Association (LFA) Premier Division, after weeks
of intense tussle and wrangling among several other top clubs in
that prestigious competition.
The “Yellow Boys” were on Sunday temporarily denied by Gedi & Sons
from lifting the LFA title but had to be rescued by an aggressive
Mighty Barrolle squad 24 hours later.
Mighty Barrolle yesterday pinned Monrovia Club Breweries 1-0 at the
Antoinette Tubman Stadium; denying them of the much-desired premier
trophy, thus giving way for their foremost archrivals, IE to be
declared champions.
Like I.E. on Sunday, Breweries was yesterday confident of clinching
the championship and had arrived at the stadium nearly an hour ahead
of the match only to end up in disappointment. Breweries needed to
secure a 2-0 victory to be crowned as champions but they could not
even get a goal.
Mighty Barrolle arrived few minutes to kickoff time in an old pickup
under heavy speculations that they have sold the match ahead of the
game. But to the disbelief of the many spectators who turned out to
witness the encounter, the “Red Boys” began the match in an
aggressive fashion; making several brilliant moves in the first 5
minutes.
After two near misses, the ‘Red Boys” set the I. E.-fan flooded
stadium ablaze when striker Paul Blateh volleyed a spinning ball
past Breweries goalkeeper in the 9th minute to get the opener in the
first half of the duel.
It was an interesting scene as the nation’s foremost soccer
archrivals turned friends with supporters of I.E. heavily cheering
the “Red Boys” to victory- something like a ‘do it for us ‘Rollers.’
Some of the ‘Yellow Boys’ fans even tied together a red and yellow
cloth, parading around the field, symbolizing a sign of unity among
the two rivals.
Breweries fought back as they saw the gigantic premiership trophy
glaring at them from the VIP stand fast slipping away from them
despite all of their efforts to embrace it. Rollers were determined
to make Breweries efforts fruitless and ensured that the Club Boys
never cracked their solid defence.
In the end, the “Yellow Boys” were awarded the trophy, by the
president of the Liberia Football Association, Cllr. S. Izetta
Wesley; but the performance by Mighty Barrolle against Monrovia Club
Breweries will long be remembered.
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