MARC STAMP, STAR Writer

St Lucia's Veterans captured the Guinness Street Football Challenge Caribbean title when they trounced Arm Units of Barbados 4-1 in the final at the Urban Development Corporation car park in Downtown on Sunday night.

The St Lucians received the winning trophy and US$6,000, while the Barbadians earned US$3,000. In the third-place play-off match, Soccer Giants of Aruba edged St Vincent 2-1. Aruba walked away with US $2,500 and St Vincent collected US $1,000.

In the final played in front of packed stands, the St Lucian men took the lead courtesy of an own goal. They then ran out easy victors courtesy of goals by Keivon King, Valda Maximin and Romiel Felix.

Felix won the Golden Boot and US$500, courtesy of Digicel, for emerging top scorer on six goals.

Jamaica's champion Splash Dash was eliminated at the quarter-final knockout stage by the eventual champions. Despite the early departure of the Jamaican team, the supporters stayed to the end.

Chukrche Lamontayne, manager of the champion team, was elated with his team's improved performance on the second day.

"It is the best feeling, we created history for being the first winners from St Lucia. We lost two games on Saturday, then came back and won all three games on the final day," Lamontayne told STAR Sports.

Meanwhile, Andrew Anguin, Guinness brand manager, said the championship surpassed his expectations.

"The Caribbean finals surpassed all expectations. Now, we are definitely looking forward to next year and will start planning immediately," Anguin said.