Dolphins crush Juventus







The San Pedro Dolphins
(Photo by Roy Novelo/Belicolor)

Reported by Santiago Acosta

September 28th, 1997 - Referee Enrique Dunn from Corozal blew his whistle giving the official start to one of the most exciting and entertaining games ever played at Ambergris Stadium when the San Pedro Dolphins played host to Juventus of Orange Walk. From the initial whistle the two teams started pressing and both offences made well orchestrated advances on the opposing goal. However, it was Juventus that drew first blood, in the 30th minute, when in a very quick move Marcelino Tun was fed a beautiful pass and in the struggle to control the ball with Al Westby he was fouled and a spot kick awarded. Luis "Chino" Briceño did again, like many times in the past, executed a missile with a lot of effect in which neither the defense nor the goal keeper could do anything. Juventus 1 Dolphins none. This score held up for the first 45 minutes.

The second half started with San Pedro pressing hard with shots from outside the 18 yard box and renewed incursions from the Trapp brothers. It was the 25th minute, when in a beautiful play between Raul "Coco" Gonzalez and the star of the evening Landy Pinelo, Juventus' defence was beaten. Charlie Slusher tried to come out to cut the angle, but a player like "Landy" knew just what to do in this situation and let go a bullet that froze Slusher and shocked the rest for the equalizer.

From then on the Dolphins were in control, the rival was broken physically and morally and it was only a matter of time before the second goal would be scored, giving San Pedro its first victory over Juventus in almost 3 years. San Pedro insisted against the opposing goal and seven minutes to the final whistle blowing, Al Westby launched a well placed spot kick smack in the middle of the 18 yard boundary where Charlie Slusher came out to try and control the ball, but, Coach Palmiro Salas had made the right move for just a situation as this. The Uruguayan, Juan Carlos Silva, who had come in as a substitution also went up and beat Charlie to the ball, deflecting it precisely to where the master goal hunter was positioned. Landy let go a right missile into an empty net; Charlie didn't even try to save because he was out of position. It was pandemonium with the fans because they knew the end for Juventus was near and so when the whistle finally blew for this one it was:

San Pedro Dolphins 2 Juventus 1

At this point the San Pedro Management would like to thank all our sponsors and fans for hanging in there with us when we were going through rough times but we know that good things will always prosper in the end.

Like the popular saying goes, "Nuff Respect."

San Pedro: John Brooks, Al Westby, Walter Gutierrez, Bonny Gentle, Florentino Gonzalez, Raul Gonzalez, Stanley Robinson, Luke Roches, Heitor Gama, John Trapp and Landy Pinelo.

Bench Players: Abel Rene, Lawrence Maison, Leslie Trapp, Juan Carlos Silva, Carlos Briceño, Pablo Borges, Oscar Pinelo, Lloyd Bodden and Nelson Manuel.

Changes/Substitutions: Heitor Mesa Gama out Leslie Trapp in and John Trapp out Juan Carlos Silva in.







Dolphins crush Juventus


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