The winner will go home with $1 million, while the loser will go home with nothing.
That’s what’s on the line today as Newtown Pride and SLC FC compete in the championship match of the first The Soccer Tournament in Cary, NC.
In the inaugural edition of the spirited 7v7 tournament, there has been excitement throughout the weekend as the unique rules have led to electric comebacks and great moments.
The two teams that made it to the final were considered underdogs heading into this tournament, with both sides having to overcome teams featuring big-name players, athletes, and stars. Now they’re just 40 minutes plus Target Score Time away from a massive $1 million prize pool, while the team that doesn’t make it will walk away with nothing but memories.
The Sporting News is following the TST Championship match live, providing score updates, commentary and highlights as they happen.
TST Championship Live Score
| Score | scorers | |
| newtown pride | – | – |
| FC SLC | – | – |
TST Championship Live Updates, Highlights, Commentary
1 hour to start: None of these teams were supposed to be here, playing for a $1 million prize, but here they are. He talks about the advantage today’s professionals have over big-name athletes who are past their prime and, in many cases, retired.
The Sporting News spoke to former USMNT forward and retired MLS player Chris Wondolowski after his Team Dempsey was knocked out in the group stage, and Wondo said it was physically exhausting for someone like him, who has come to the 40 years. Both teams that made it to the final feature mostly current amateur or professional players, which speaks to the importance of the physical element of this tournament.
TST Championship Key Players and Rosters
Newtown Pride is a supporter’s club from the Sandy Hook area of Newtown, CT. They won the 2019 National Amateur Cup, which is a tournament-based competition in the United States run by the US Adult Soccer Association (USASA), with the winner earning entry into the US Open Cup. ., although Newtown Pride never got to compete in the US Open Cup after its cancellation in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The team lost their first game of the tournament, a 2-1 loss to Kingdom FC, but have won every game since, conceding just one goal or less in each victory, an impressive feat through such a style of competition. high. .
The squad has a wide variety of attackers, highlighting the fact that 10 different players have scored goals in this tournament, led by five each of gabriel ganzer and Kelvin Nunes.
Newtown Pride List: 1. Quantrell Jones (GK), 21. Paulo Nascimento (GK) — 4. Filipe Dutra, 16. Drew Ruggles, 17. James Thomas-Cruz, 20. Tony Wells, 23. Marcel Berry, 24. Stefan Mijatovic, 51. Robert Palmer — 7. Onua Obasi, 10. Gabriel Costa, 11. Jean Ferdinand, 14. William Eskay — 8. Issak Somow, 9. Tavoy Morgan, 15. Gabriel Ganzer, 44. Alencar Ventura-Junior, 77. Kelvin Nunes.
Hailing from the Canadian city of Toronto, SLC FC (which stands for Sports League Canada) features several players from Canada’s national futsal team.
SLC FC have only one defeat in the tournament in the group stage, winning their other four matches. To get to this stage, SLC FC had to defeat more than one team that drew senior team experience from USMNT, MLS, or even the Premier League, including Blade & Grass FC (Danny Drinkwater, Stephen Ireland, Leon Best, Brek Shea, Zat Knight, Geoff Cameron) and Zala FFF (AJ De La Garza & Lee Nguyen) in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively.
Like Newtown Pride, SLC too relies on defense first, having conceded more than two goals in a game only once (their 3-1 group stage loss to Hapoel Tel Aviv). His goal is distributed by the sides, with the three of rose rahim leading a list of nine scorers in this tournament.
SLC FC Roster: 1. John Smits (GK), 30. Filip Zendelek (GK) — 2. Daniel Gogarty, 4. Jarred Phillips, 7. Sammy Ssebaduka, 17. Kai Martin, 25. Mihai Hodut, 92. Josh Kohn — 5. Raheem Rose , 10. Daniel Chamale, 14. Emmanuel Zambazis, 18. Joe Di Chiara, 95. Abdallah El-Chanti — 9. Damion Graham, 15. Vitali Tymofiienko, 22. Omar Marzouk, 36. Mario Kovacevic.
How to watch the TST Championship match
- Date: Sunday, June 4, 2023
- Time: 3 p.m. Eastern time
- Television channel: CNBC
- Transmission: fubo peacock (subscription required)
The TST final between Newtown Pride and SLC FC will air on CNBC and will air on NBC’s premium platform Peacock.
CNBC can also be streamed through Fubo, with a free trial available for new users.
TST Rules and Gameplay
For those new to the tournament, here is a brief description of how The Soccer Tournament is played, via the official tournament rules:
- 7 against 7 (six field players, plus a goalkeeper)
- Rosters of 10-18 players
- Unlimited subscriptions that can be made at any time in a game
- No offside rule
- No sliding tackles
- No throw-ins
- no raffles
- 20-minute halves followed by an Elam finish (called “Target Score Time”)
TST’s most notable rule quirk is drawn from its innovative ending for basketball games, known there as the “Elam Ending” and here referred to as the “Target Score Time”.
Here’s how it works in TST: matches consist of two 20-minute halves, after which the game doesn’t end, regardless of the score. Enter “Target Score Time” which does not adhere to a timed clock.
To win the game, one of the teams must achieve the target score, which is always one goal more than the winning team’s total at the end of regulation 40 minutes. For example, if the score is Team A 3-1 Team B at the end of regulation time, the target score for either team to hit becomes 4 (one over 3), and the first team to 4 goals wins the game. .
If 10 minutes pass in this timeout period without the target score being met, one player will be removed from each team to create a more open game. An additional player will then be removed from each side every additional five minutes until one of the teams reaches the target score.
This finish ensures that there are no ties, and each game ends with a goal scored, known as a “walk off” in most American sports.
