Spanish Town-based Spartan Elite were crowned champions of the Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five after defeating Pump House in sudden death at the national finals in Half-Way-Tree Square on Sunday.

The all-important goal came from the boots of Akeem Gibbons, who launched a powerful strike from just beyond the half-line in a one-on-one battle with Cornell Robinson.

Spartan Elite, who had earlier defeated Pump House 1-0 in the group stages, battled to a 0-0 scoreline in a thrilling encounter in the final before the sudden death goal that gave them the title.

Both Gibbons and Robinson went for matching speeds and long-range strikes in sudden death to get that vital goal, but both were unsuccessful on numerous occasions.

The decisive moment came when Gibbons, was fouled by Robinson into his half of the field and Gibbons in taking his free kick, dribbled to his right, making some room between himself and Robinson and then launched a powerful strike which floated in the air and hit the back of the net.

By virtue of winning the championship game, Spartan Elite get an all-expenses-paid trip to Brazil to represent Jamaica at the World Finals to be hosted at Institute Projecto Neymar Jr in Praia Grande, Brazil, against players from 42 countries, early next month.

The winning team at the World Finals gets to play with Neymar Jr’s team, minus the top man who is recovering from a ruptured right ankle ligament.

Gibbons, who his trade at Fraszier’s Whip in the Super League competition, was lost for words after sending his team and spectators into wild celebration.

“I feel so grateful and happy at the moment. The plan in the sudden death was to use the back board and try and get the rebound and see if I could score from it, but to get the goal with just one kick — it was so amazing. I thank God and the support of my team,” Gibbon said.

His sudden death opponent, Robinson, the man who plays at Humble Lions FC in the Premier League, was disappointed with the result of the game but lauded his team for reaching so far in the tournament.

“It was very unfortunate as I did expect a different result, but give thanks that we had reached this far in the competition; to be in the finals was a great achievement. My team’s performance was up to standard. We are very happy with the performance that we did, but all we wanted was a different result… but such is life, as you win some and you lose some,” Robinson told the Jamaica Observer.

En route to the final Spartan Elite, who were the Trelawny leg champions; defeated Kingston leg winners Malhotra FC 1-0 — one of two best second-place teams, Pump House 1-0, and St Thomas winners winners Road to Brazil, also 1-0 in group competition.

Spartan Elite then went on to beat Bath FC, one of two best second-place teams, in sudden death as their semi-final game ended 1-1 after full time.

Pump House started their run with a 4-0 whipping of Road to Brazil, went down 0-1 to the champions, and defeated Molhotra FC 4-1 in the group stages. They then defeated Medley Mixers, winners of the St Elizabeth leg, 1-0 in the other semi-final match.

The Spartan Elite team is made up of Gibbons, Romio Brown, Byron Sweeney, Rohan Thompson, Tayne Douglas, Johnoy Hanson and Kiody Chambers, while Robinson, Cory Hylton, Hilroy Beckford, Tyrigue Henry, Rohan Richards, Kevin Wilson and Jehavonie Fearson comprised the Pump House unit.

Dubbed the biggest five-a-side football tournament in the world, the Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five, which was hosted in Jamaica for the first time, was started by Brazilian forward Neymar da Silva Junior in 2016, is now played across six continents, and is set to bring aspiring Jamaica footballers the opportunity of a lifetime.

The tournament is played with five players on each side, with no goalkeepers. Whenever a team scores the opposition loses a player, which makes the games fast, technical, tactical, and great fun. A game lasts 10 minutes or until one team does not have any players left. A team is expected to boast up to seven players, aged 16 to 25, plus two over 25, with no gender limitations — which means there can be mixed teams.

It was a job well done for Rohan Thompson, captain of Spartan Elite, who had entered the competition three times.

Spartan Elite lost out in the quarter-finals in the Kingston leg at The University of the West Indies, Mona Bowl on May 4, then lost 0-3 to Medley Mixers in the St Elizabeth leg at St Elizabeth Technical High School the following Saturday before coming up trumps in Falmouth.

“It feels great; a job well done. Perseverance and consistency will bring you through. Trust me, I felt it before because I said ‘yeah’ we entered this thing three times and good God man, we really deserved this. We really deserved to go to Brazil and so we had to just come out, and play our hearts out and let the Creator help us win the rest of the way.

“I would say the team’s overall performance was good and not excellent. For me, I was calm and I also saw it within my fellow players. They were not that anxious, they were not that nervous, because we experienced many finals in football and we played together and so it is nothing really new even though this is a bigger one. We managed it well,” said Thompson, who plays with Ensom City in the Division Two League.

FLOW’s Sponsorship Manager Stephen Miller was extremely pleased with the success of the tournament.

“I am extremely happy. A lot of persons I think were skeptical initially…this is a competition that has some unique rules, unique format, but it certainly lent itself to a lot of excitement and some thrilling games — from the very first qualifier to the final here in the middle of Half-Way-Tree.

“I am glad to be a part of it and again, it is another football [event] that Flow been a part of that we been able to unearth talent right across the country and give these kids the opportunity to showcase their skills not just locally, but right across the world — with a team tonight (Sunday) getting that opportunity to represent Jamaica in Brazil in a couple weeks. This is the inaugural year in Jamaica, the fourth year worldwide, and this is a competition that 50 countries participate in and over 100,000 participants and so, based on the feedback that we have gotten across the length and breadth of Jamaica is that this is going to be back next year, and I mean it is something that we look to be a part of and is certainly a good competition,” he told the Observer.

Although there were mixed feelings, Tournament Director Donald Lyew was a satisfied man at the end competition.

“For the tournament overall, my thoughts are mixed. We started in Kingston and I think it was a great opportunity for youngsters. I mean, when you look at these seven guys going to Brazil just like that and they will call themselves scrimmage players and yet still they are highlighted, and so that is great about the tournament.

“Why I said mixed feelings, it is in the sense of there were so many other parishes that we went to and, although we got a lot of turnouts, you still had a few teams that got in and did not come, which deprived other teams from enjoying what they have here.

“For example, did you know that Spartan Elite won their qualifier on the third attempt? They came and lost out in Kingston, they came to St Elizabeth and waited because they know teams are going to drop out and they came in and lost again. Then they came to Trelawny and waited because they knew teams were going to drop out, again and they got in and they won that tournament and here they are on their way to Brazil.

“So my word to the other teams out there is that when we come back again another time, make use of the opportunity. And when you do get in, make use of the opportunity just like how Spartan Elite did; and if you don’t plan to make use of the opportunity, leave it to others who want to make use of the opportunity.

“Overall, I think it is a great initiative from Red Bull, and of course FLOW backing them up as sponsor as well, and I think we had a great event here today (Sunday) and hope other people would testify to the same thing,” the tournament director said.