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The winner will go home with $1 million, while the loser will go home with nothing.
That is what remains on the line today as Newtown Pride and SLC FC compete in the championship match of the first-ever The Soccer Tournament in Cary, NC.
In the inaugural edition of the energetic 7-on-7 tournament, there have been thrills throughout the weekend as the unique rules have made for electric comebacks and great moments.
The two teams reaching the final were both considered underdogs heading into this tournament, and both sides had to get past teams with big name players, athletes, and stars. They now are just 40 minutes plus Target Score Time away from a massive $1 million prize, while the team falling short 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 (2H) | Goal scorers | |
| Newtown Pride | 0 | — |
| SLC FC | 0 | — |
TST Championship live updates, highlights, commentary
Newtown Pride vs SLC FC: Second Half
31st min: Chance, Newtown Pride! Save, John Smits! A SLC turnover in midfield generates a counter opportunity for William Eskay down the right, and he has a hit but Smits comes up big to deny Newtown Pride again.
30th min: Chance, Newtown Pride! THEY’VE HIT THE WOODWORK FOR A THIRD TIME!! It’s a perfect horizontal cross along the end line right to the feet of Marcel Berry, who slides in to meet it, but he gets under the ball and hits it up and off the crossbar. The ball pings out to a yellow shirt, but the follow-up is blocked out for a corner. They just cannot find a way past John Smits or the frame of his goal.
HOW HAS THAT NOT GONE IN?!@NewtownPrideFC cross it in and Marcel Berry somehow misses the wide open net!
Unbelievably still tied 0-0, Tune in on @peacock pic.twitter.com/YgRJm9Tr0X
— TST (@TST7v7) June 4, 2023
THE BALL REFUSES TO GO IN pic.twitter.com/3lHn0pAkjP
— TST (@TST7v7) June 4, 2023
28th min: It’s still all Newtown Pride, but they’re up against a low block from SLC FC who have everyone behind the ball, and can’t find a way through. They continue to poke and prod, but it’s not happening at the moment.
Lovely team move from @NewtownPrideFC
Gabriel Costa feeds James Thomas-Cruz on the overlap but his shot goes high
$1 Million Dollars at stake for both teams! Tune in on @CNBC pic.twitter.com/ZT2TsBeUc2
— TST (@TST7v7) June 4, 2023
24th min: Neither team pushing hard for the opening goal in the early stages of the second half, but Newtown Pride are controlling possession again. SLC FC coach Lorenzo Redwood is visibly frustrated on the sideline, as his team can’t get a kick of the ball.
FANCY FOOTWORK!
Raheem Rose shows some silky dribbling moves in the midfield but skies his shot over the net
2nd half underway tune in on @CNBC pic.twitter.com/to6fU3DZrP
— TST (@TST7v7) June 4, 2023
Kickoff: The second half is under way, with 20 minutes to go before Target Score Time. SLC FC coach Lorenzo Redwood said he wants his side to get on the ball more and have more possession. They’ll need to make adjustments knowing Newtown Pride were knocking on the door throughout the first half.
🗣️FOR CANADA
Go inside SLC FC’s locker room, just minutes before the biggest match of their lives pic.twitter.com/NeqfClSLUH
— TST (@TST7v7) June 4, 2023
HALFTIME: Newtown Pride 0-0 SLC FC
We expected a defensive battle, and it was overall, but that doesn’t quite describe the opening 20 minutes. Newtown Pride had some exceptional chances, but just couldn’t find the back of the net. Newtown Pride coach Quenton Swift describes the first half as “one way traffic” on the CNBC broadcast, and he’s not wrong. SLC FC had one good chance, but otherwise it was all Newtown in the first half. Will they be made to rue their misses?
One last message from @NewtownPrideFC before the biggest match of their lives 🗣️🗣️ pic.twitter.com/i3dHIUhIQh
— TST (@TST7v7) June 4, 2023
Newtown Pride vs SLC FC: First Half
18th min: Chance, Newtown Pride! HOW HAS THAT NOT GONE IN?!?! THEY’VE HIT THE POST AGAIN! Gabriel Ganzer produces an audacious back-heel shot, but somehow John Smits gets a boot to it, saving the ball off the post and out. An excellent effort and even better save, what thin margins in the hunt for $1 million!
BACK HEEL SAVED OFF THE POST!
Gabriel Ganzer’s audacious backheel attempt is saved by John Smits off the post
Somehow SLC FC and @NewtownPrideFC are tied in the final
Both teams gunning for $1 Million Dollars, Tune in on @CNBC pic.twitter.com/PEiSwIQrb8
— TST (@TST7v7) June 4, 2023
ENTERTAINMENT‼️
Listen to that crowd roarrrrr pic.twitter.com/kTZDkbmBHo
— TST (@TST7v7) June 4, 2023
15th min: Nunes nearly threads through teammate, but Daniel Gogarty does extremely well to clear at the last moment. There’s no slide tackling in this tournament, with such a small field, but Gogarty went to ground to clear the ball, not to dispossess an opponent so it’s a legal play.
12th min: Chance, Newtown Pride! KELVIN NUNES HITS THE POST! The Newtown Pride forward receives the ball with his back to goal and produces an outside turn that totally shakes his defender. His shot across the face of goal hits the inside of the post but does not direct in, instead pinging agonizingly out and no yellow shirt can latch on. What a close shave, nearly the opener!
OFF THE POST!
Best chance of the match so far as Kelvin Nunes fires one off the inside of the post and SLC FC clear it away
Chances at both ends!
$1 Million Dollars on the line, tune in on @CNBC pic.twitter.com/yf5eguY22L
— TST (@TST7v7) June 4, 2023
What a chance!
Both teams have been close, there must be a goal coming soon👀 pic.twitter.com/jxLbbkmIkk
— TST (@TST7v7) June 4, 2023
10th min: Chance, SLC FC! The best chance so far for the Canadian side! It’s from a very tight angle as Paulo Nascimento blocks off his near post on a hit by Kai Martin. A good rip, but it’s hard to beat a well-positioned goalkeeper from that spot near the end line.
6th min: Chance, Newtown Pride! Newtown Pride get a dangerous free-kick just at the edge of the SLC penalty area, as Raheem Rose absolutely bodies Tavoy Morgan in the air, sending Morgan tumbling to the ground. The free-kick is taken almost on the penalty area line, and Gabriel Costa squares it for Drew Ruggles who rips a shot, but it’s saved by John Smits at his near post! Good positioning by the SLC goalkeeper.
GOOD CHANCE @NewtownPrideFC
Gabriel Costa rolls the ball for Drew Ruggles and he rips one but the keeper is just about able to hold on
Things are heating up, tune in on @CNBC pic.twitter.com/fhVmThS4sh
— TST (@TST7v7) June 4, 2023
4th min: A scrum in the SLC penalty area is somehow cleared! There’s a faint penalty shout as SLC goalkeeper John Smits takes down a Newtown attacker, but replay shows there was little contact and the referee correctly waves it away. The best moment for either side so far!
SHOWBOATING IN THE FINAL!
Tavoy Morgan savagely stretches out his leg in front of the defender for @NewtownPrideFC
$1 Million Dollars on the line, tune in on @CNBC pic.twitter.com/C6xV2yTber
— TST (@TST7v7) June 4, 2023
2nd min: SLC FC’s Daniel Chamale has the first shot of the match, but it’s a tame one and collected easily by Newtown Pride goalkeeper Paulo Nascimento. These two teams are quite defensively stout, and it’s been slow as expected early on.
Kickoff: The first-ever TST final, worth $1 million, is under way! Remember, each half will be 20 minutes long, before Target Score Time will decide the tournament champion in walk-off fashion.
The fans are OUT HERE in Cary, NC to see a team win a Milly‼️🤑
TUNE IN NOW! pic.twitter.com/X07r2NvcUP
— TST (@TST7v7) June 4, 2023
Newtown Pride vs SLC FC: Pre-match commentary, analysis, stats, and more
3 mins to kickoff: We’re moments away from getting started with a match to win $1 million! And it’s a genuine championship prize, because the loser goes home with nothing. How nervous would you be in pre-match warmups?
Warmups underway for the $1,000,000 match
This game is about to be insane… pic.twitter.com/hdyWCOmWza
— TST (@TST7v7) June 4, 2023
10 mins to kickoff: Just how much emotion goes into a match with $1 million on the line? Well, take it from Raheem Rose of SLC FC, who scored their game-winner to send them to the final. His celebration didn’t exactly go planned, as he tried to take his shirt off in jubilation, but couldn’t quite make it happen. Here’s to the celebrations going better this time!
Thanks to the Target Score Time format, someone on one of these two teams will score a goal to end the match and seal a million dollar payout. How about that for a lifetime memory?
🗣️FOR CANADA
The moment Raheem Rose sent SLC FC to the $1,000,000 TST Championship!!!
⤵️🇨🇦⤵️🇨🇦⤵️🇨🇦⤵️ pic.twitter.com/d3OWut0JiE
— TST (@TST7v7) June 4, 2023
15 mins to kickoff: This $1 million final isn’t the only prize given out at TST over the weekend. Kenneth Perkinson of Raleigh Rebels won the Goalkeeper Wars challenge, earning himself a cool $2,000 cash prize. The competition is a goalkeeper skills challenge that pits players against each other, similar to what they did at the MLS All Star Skills Challenge last summer in Minnesota.
The FIRST EVER TST Goalie Wars winner‼️
Raleigh Rebels’ GK Kenneth Perkinson talked about what it means to win $2,000. ⤵️🤑@dr_perkyy | @RenegadeGk pic.twitter.com/t9Rx2OY8l6
— TST (@TST7v7) June 4, 2023
30 mins to kickoff: The lineups are in. SLC will play with three midfielders and one forward, while Newtown Pride deploy a 2-2-2 formation in front of their goalkeeper. How would you set up a team if you were contesting a 7-on-7 match with $1 million on the line?
The lineups for TST’s first $1M winner-take-all Championship Game!
Newtown Pride FC vs SLC FC
Newtown Pride FC
Formation (2-2-2)
GK – Paulo Nascimento #21
D – Robert Palmer #51
D – Drew Ruggles #16
M – Issak Somow #8
M – William Eskay #14
F – Kelvin Nunes #77
F – Gabriel…— TST (@TST7v7) June 4, 2023
45 mins to kickoff: Obviously, the ruleset of TST makes it quite unique, from the 7-on-7 format, no offside, kick-ins instead of throws…but the thing that stands out the most is Target Score Time (there’s a primer on how this works further down the page if you’re new).
Target Score Time derives from the Elam Ending which was introduced at TST’s parent competition, The Basketball Tournament, and received rave reviews. In TST, every match ends on a walk-off goal no matter the score, ensuring no team is effectively out of a game until the final goal is scored.
The largest Target Score Time comeback through the inaugural tournament was a four-goal turnaround from Zala FFF in the quarterfinals, entering the golden goal period down 3-0 to Como 1907 before eventually winning 4-3. Will we see another shocker like this in the final?
ZALA FFF JUST SCORED FFFOUR GOALS IN TARGET SCORE TIME TO ADVANCE TO THE SEMIFINALS 🤯🤯🤯🤯
THE GREATEST COMEBACK IN TST HISTORY pic.twitter.com/f79S0foRvp
— TST (@TST7v7) June 3, 2023
“We knew if we kept it tight we’d always have a chance in target score time”
Lee Nguyen speaks following Zala FFF’s dramatic come from behind win! pic.twitter.com/iOJ3XY1PcH
— TST (@TST7v7) June 3, 2023
1 hour to kick off: Neither one of these teams was supposed to be here, playing for a $1 million prize, yet here they are. It speaks to the advantage that current professionals have against bigger-name athletes who are past their prime, and in many case retired.
The Sporting News spoke to former USMNT striker and retired MLS player Chris Wondolowski after his Team Dempsey was eliminated in the group stage, and Wondo expressed that it was physically taxing for someone like him who has reached 40 years old. Both teams reaching the final feature mostly current professionals or amateur players, which speaks to the importance of the physical element of this tournament.
I caught Mia Hamm after the USA Women finished up their final match @TST7v7
I asked her if she’d gotten a call from Vlatko with a few injuries to the #USWNT.
“Oh heck no. We wanna win” 😂🤣😂 pic.twitter.com/Rf3568LyrO
— Kyle Bonn (@the_bonnfire) June 2, 2023
TST Championship rosters & key players
Newtown Pride is an amateur club hailing from the Sandy Hook area of Newtown, CT. They won the 2019 National Amateur Cup, which is a tournament-based competition across the United States run by the U.S. Adult Soccer Association (USASA), with the winner gaining entry to the U.S. Open Cup, although Newtown Pride never got to compete in the U.S. Open Cup after its cancellation in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The side lost its first match of the tournament, a 2-1 defeat to Kingdom FC, but have won every single game since, conceding just one goal or fewer in every single victory, an impressive feat through such a high-scoring style of competition.
The roster features a wide variety of attacking players, noted by the fact that 10 different players have scored goals in this tournament, led by five each from Gabriel Ganzer and Kelvin Nunes.
Newtown Pride roster: 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 Newtown, CT…@NewtownPrideFC is ☝️ win away from $1,000,000
It’s time to finish this🏆 pic.twitter.com/wV5gu9cXQP
— TST (@TST7v7) June 4, 2023
Hailing from the Canadian city of Toronto, SLC FC (which stands for Sports League Canada) feature a number of players from the Canadian national futsal team.
SLC FC have just one loss on the tournament in group stage play, winning their other four matches. To reach this stage, SLC FC had to take down more than one team that featured USMNT senior team, MLS, or even Premier League experience, including Blade & Grass FC (Danny Drinkwater, Stephen Ireland, Leon Best, Brek Shea, Zat Knight, Geoff Cameron) and Zala FFF (A.J De La Garza & Lee Nguyen) in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively.
Like Newtown Pride, SLC are also built on defense first, having conceded more than two goals in a match just once (their 3-1 group stage loss to Hapoel Tel Aviv). Their goalscoring is spread around the side, with the three from Raheem Rose leading the way amongst a list of nine goal 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.
🗣️THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN!
Tonight, the boys have a chance to bring $1,000,000 back to Canada🇨🇦
SLC FC is ☝️ win away… pic.twitter.com/ZOb4agJudY
— TST (@TST7v7) June 4, 2023
How to watch TST Championship match
- Date: Sunday, June 4, 2023
- Time: 3 p.m. ET
- TV Channel: CNBC
- Streaming: Fubo, Peacock (subscription required)
The TST final between Newtown Pride and SLC FC will be broadcast on CNBC and streamed on NBC’s premium platform Peacock.
CNBC can also be streamed via Fubo, with a free trial available for new users.
The hype for the $1,000,000 championship is building…
Here’s how @NewtownPrideFC & SLC FC got here⤵️ pic.twitter.com/wWVqu2JXB0
— TST (@TST7v7) June 4, 2023
TST rules and gameplay
For those new to the tournament, here’s a brief overview of how The Soccer Tournament is played, via the official tournament rules:
- 7-on-7 (six outfield player, plus a goalkeeper)
- Rosters of 10-18 players
- Unlimited subs which can be made at any point in a game
- No offside rule
- No slide tackles
- No throw-ins
- No draws
- 20-minute halves followed by an Elam Ending (called “Target Score Time”)
TST’s most notable rule quirk is drawn from their innovative ending to basketball games, known there as the “Elam Ending” and here referred to as “Target Score Time.”
Here’s how it works in TST: Matches consist of two 20-minute halves, after which the game is not over, regardless of score. It enters “Target Score Time” which does not adhere to a timed clock.
To win the game, one of the teams needs to hit the target score, which is always one more goal than the winning team’s total at the end of 40 minutes of regulation. For example, if the score is Team A 3-1 Team B at the end of regulation, the target score for either team to hit becomes 4 (one more than 3), and the first team that reaches 4 goals wins the game.
Should 10 minutes elapse in this untimed period without the target score reached, 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 further five minutes until one of the teams reaches the target score.
This ending ensures there are no draws, and every game ends on a goal being scored, known as a “walk off” in most U.S. sports.
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