SV La Fama vs SV Estrella
La Fama didn’t disappoint in their first match, for 70 minutes that is. They were up 2-0, in cruise control after early goals by Jair Farro (’21) and Timothe Makanzu (’39) and certainly going for a third goal. Jean-Luc Bergen making his head coaching debut in the topflight, contemplating how Anthony Walsh, Joshua Farro, Jaydrick Panneflek and company were about to break the game wide open for his team, that goal however never came. The young team got complacent, lost their focus and couldn’t hold on to the ball anymore, a touch of experience could have helped, Sylvester Schwengle suddenly comes to mind. Estrella’s head coach Lando Everon had a good thinking and made some timely changes around that point in the match, Kevin Peña , with veterans Jackson Theophile and Marshell Kock. The game had an instant switch; Estrella started to recover balls, La Fama started to draw back. Estrella’s first goal came 10 minutes later by means of Kevin Peña (’80) and then it was high tension until the last whistle after La Fama had to fight tooth and nail for the three points, but they succeeded, nonetheless! Final score La Fama 2 – 1 Estrella.
⚽’20 Jair Farro LAF ⚽’39 Timothe Makanzu LAF ⚽’80 Kevin Peña EST
🟨’50 Lampe EST 🟨’62 Jean-Baptiste LAF 🟨’51 Gomez EST 🟨’92 Ordonez LAF 🟥’98 Kock EST
🟨🟥’98 Ordonez LAF
SV Dakota vs Bubali SC
I don’t think Dakota underestimated Bubali in this match, they knew they were in for a battle with the newly promoted team from Noord, a well-coached team under Jaime Carasquilla with quality players like Miguel “Pombo” Suarez, Michael Tromp (Captain), Daiby Rocero and Antonio Prieto Fawcett, anything could happen. Dakota knew this and they were prepared for anything. Dakota showed superiority in the beginning of the match and went up quickly with goals by Woodney Jean Baptiste (‘3) and Camilo Peña (’17) by pk. Bubali came back with a goal from freekick by Daiby Rocero (’28) and then tied the game with a goal by Antonio Fawcett by pk (’53), and then even went up 2-3 in the 62nd minute, a wonderful goal by “Pombo” Suarez. This shook Dakota, but they reacted well, a quick goal by Camilo Peña just two minutes later tied the game again. With the game even at 67minute, Jonathan Lake went to work, and here is where Dakota proved that having a deep roster pays dividends eventually. He brought in talented Rolf Derisca in the midfield for none other than captain Daniel Briceño, and the inclusion of Over Garcia, suddenly the dynamics of Dakota’s playing style changed dramatically, not that it was better than their play in the first part of the game, but it was a good alternative to try and win this game, a nice variation, and they did. Goals by Woodney Jean Baptiste (’82 brace) and a wondergoal by Camilo Peña (’85 hatrick) cemented the Dakota victory and well deserved 3 points. Final score Dakota 5 – 3 Bubali.
⚽’3 Woodney Jean Baptiste DAK ⚽’Camilo Peña DAK (pk) ⚽’28 Daiby Rocero BUB ⚽’53 Antonio Prieto BUB (pk) ⚽’62 Miguel Suarez BUB ⚽’64 Camilo Peña DAK ⚽’82 Woodney Jean Baptiste DAK ⚽’85 Camilo Peña DAK
🟨 ’36 Nordelus DAK 🟨 ’41 Hernandez BUB 🟨 ’64 Peña DAK
ASV River Plate vs Real Koyari
River Plate under coach Juan Valdez made much progress in the second half of last year’s championship where they ended up playing in “Liga Plata”, the relegation league, but at end emerged as the silver champions anyway. This year they are aiming to make top 6 as a first step, a team with a mix of veterans like their perennial captain Carlos Quandt, Kendrick Poulina, with John-Rick Kelly and Ajeem Morales. Real Koyari is making their debut in the top league with Rolando Rodriguez and showed up with a combination of veterans and youngsters alike on the squad. Their aim is to be competitive and with a long shot chance, maybe make top 6. They tried their best in this match despite not having the ball for 70% of the game. River went forwrd and got their timely goals from Ajeem Morales (’30), Shakame Stamper (’52) and John Rick Kelly (’89) to shut the door on Koyari. Final score River Plate 3 – 0 Real Koyari.
⚽’30 Ajeem Morales RPL ⚽’52 Shakame Stamper RPL ⚽’89 John-Rick Kelly RPL
No cards were given in the match
SV Sporting Aruba vs SV Nacional
Sporting was much in the news in the pre-season, as new upcoming team, first time ever in topflight. They did sign some big names in the process and got Maurice Escalona at the last moment in a change of head coach, and because of all that there was always going to be much pressure to get results. But ones have to be realistic, this is about lots of players that never played together before, coming together in a short time, it’s a process that requires patience. In this match they were feeling many jitters, and it showed in great part of the game, maybe until the last 20 minutes, that is when they freed up their minds and just started playing football. Nacional is still a good team, this game they didn’t have their ace Devis Oliveros who just came back to the island couple of days before match day. Most players on the Alto Vista club have been together for years. Center-back Leonardo Colmenares, one of the best at that position in the last years, is back after two years recovering from a knee injury (he was sharp in this game), Claudio Cavalcante, William Pardo (is back) and Jose Cruz in the goal, with some talented youngsters; Marlison Hooi coming from River Plate, Mick Eman and Moises Araque from Britannia,now under head coach Wilson Galeano. Nacional took advantage of Sporting’s debut jitters and added lots of pressures, got a goal by William Pardo (’34). In the second half after much battle, Marlison Hooi scored for the Dragons (’52) after Sporting failed to score from the penalty spot a minute earlier, they had a great chance to draw even. Final score Sporting 0 – 2 Nacional.
⚽’34 William Pardo NAC ⚽ ’52 Marlison Hooi NAC
🟨 ’29 Charles SPO 🟨 ’32 Peasch SPO 🟨 ’43 Merite SPO 🟨 ’45+1 Hooi NAC🟨 ’63 Ceccarelli NAC🟨 ’68 Fernandez SPO 🟨’84 Colmenarez NAC🟨’90+5 Cavalcante NAC🟨
SV RCA vs SV Britannia
This was the biggest match up of the weekend. Britannia the double champion against RCA the all-time winningest club in Aruba’s topflight football, two top organizations indeed. RCA did revamp their team, now under head-coach Erik Santos, in his time a true gifted midfielder. The “tricolor” recruited some additional speedy players players like Junior Mervielle and Jean-Luis Mckenley, a ball recovery and handler like Jean Claude Farro but Ronaldo Valderama, the other new recruit to help in the midfield, was absent this night. Britannia’s power combination of last season, their backbone consisting of keeper Josthan Maduro, Ethan Tromp, captain Stiven Melchor, and Pieter Susebeek is intact, still missing is a solid player like Edgardo Peralta in the midfield, but Britannia is still deep and talented under Renier Paraez, a true successful head coach in the last two years since making his coaching debut. They also got Wladimir Ramirez, and Derwin Donato also came back after some successful years at Dakota. A tense match from start to finish of two top clubs, had to wait for the one and only goal of the match, the winner by Stiven Melchor at minute 53, the battle ended that way. Final Score Britannia 1 – 0 RCA
⚽’53 Stiven Melchor BRI
🟨’26 Rengifo RCA🟨’36 Ramirez BRI🟨’47 Lo-A-Njoe RCA 🟨 ’49 Croes BRI 🟨’65 Salazar RCA🟨’65 Boekhoudt BRI 🟨’72 Ramirez BRI 🟨’82 Supriano BRI 🟨’90+5 Nunez RCA
🟥’90+8 Melchor BRI 🟥 ’90+8 Rengifo RCA
