The Old Madrid Masters F.C., representing the Virgin Islands for the sixth straight year at a regional masters football tournament and the second one for this year, made it to the semi-finals of the 2012 annual Veterans FC Masters Tournament this past  weekend in  Saint Martin.

The team fell short against the eventual winners Saint Louis Masters FC in a 1-0 loss, leaving the VI team in fourth place.

The 2011 defending champions of the tournament started strong with a convincing 3-1 victory over the Anguilla Masters FC.  

Dion “Ragga” Clarke opened the score for the VI with a well-placed shot and Humphry Leue added two goals to secure the victory.

The VI’s next match was against the Retroactive Masters FC of St. Croix. Retroactive dominated the first half and Old Madrid controlled the second half.  

Ultimately, the St. Croix team edged-out Old Madrid by 4-3.  

Kenmore “Silk” Peters scored first for Old Madrid with a long-distance shot that was too hot for Retroactive’s goalie to handle, and team captain Garnett “Duba” Ferron added two goals in the second half.

But the Retroactive defense prevented the VI to even the score. Old Madrid then faced the hosts Veterans FC in the final and deciding match of Group A.  In a competitive match, the score ended in a 1-1 draw with Ferron scoring the lone goal for the VI, a header from a corner kick by Mr. Leue.  

Both teams earned four points from their three group matches, but by virtue of a better goal average, Old Madrid ended in second place of the group and advanced to the semi-final match against local favourites Saint Louis Masters who had won Group B.  

The semi-final match was competitive with both teams having several scoring opportunities. The first and best chance came for the VI, when Mr. Clarke was tackled and fouled inside the penalty area and was awarded a penalty kick.  

Unfortunately, however, Mr. Ferron missed the penalty and the first-half ended with both teams scoreless.  

It was not until the last minute of the match, with only 15 seconds to go in regulation, that Saint Louis scored giving the team the victory and spot into the championship match. The club would eventually win over Le Blue Masters FC, another team from St. Martin, which had defeated Retroactive St. Croix in the other semi-final.

Since 2007, Old Madrid FC, the VI’s only Masters-level (age 40+) football club, has played in about a dozen regional masters tournaments around the region. The team has won the St. Martin tournament three times, coming in second twice and making it to the semi-finals three other times.  

“It was another strong performance by our team, notwithstanding the tough loss in the end for which I take partial responsibility with that missed penalty,” Mr. Ferron, the team captain, said.  “I am proud of the guys.  We were in a very competitive Group, worked hard and did well to advance to the semi-finals.  Even though we did not accomplish our goal of repeating as Champions here, we can say with confidence that we represented the BVI well as usual.”  

Mr. Leue said the team plans to host a masters football tournament in the VI.