Jamaica
News - Real Estate - Sports (February
21,
2005)
Reggae Moves Dazzle Trinis
IN A CLASH of Reggae versus Soca, the sweetest
rhythms were provided by Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz at the National Stadium last
night.
Stout at the back, cool, calm and patient in
midfield and at times explosive up front, Jamaica started the inaugural
Caribbean Football Union’s Digicel Caribbean Football Cup with a smart looking
2-1 victory over rivals Trinidad and Tobago.
Before a packed National Stadium, and with
Jamaica’s green, black and yellow colours slightly outnumbering Trinidad’s
red, black and white, the region’s highest ranked team showed that even though
they were without a number of overseas based pros for this tournament, they
would be no pushover over the next four days with US$100 000 on the line.
Jamaica controlled the match after a first
eight unsettling minutes for both teams, and not to take anything from their
play, Trinidad’s midfield was slow, unimaginative, and at times quite
pathetic. The first 20 minutes were infected with a number of sorry passes to
their opponents, and Jamaica took advantage by peppering the Soca Warriors
’keeper Durance Williams with a number of long range shots.
Their persistence paid off after 15 minutes, when
Trinidad’s defence was caught napping, and a left-side cross was neatly
side-footed home by Luton Shelton for the lead.
The Jamaican fans, made up mostly of
University of the West Indies students, which is the norm once an international
match is hosted here, suddenly became rather noisy, and the adrenalin flowed to
the feet of their countrymen, who simply did what they pleased after that.
Exactly 60 seconds later, Jamaica lapsed truly
for the first time in the match, and they were made to pay.
A long searching ball was neatly pulled down
from 15 yards by Nigel Pierre, and he spun simultaneously with a low shot into
the corner, reducing Jamaica’s lead to 2-1, which they held until the break.
The second half, however, proved to be
Trinidad’s best session. Their midfield play improved, but Jamaica remained
solid at the back, even though ’keeper Shawn Sawyers came with two brilliant
reflex saves, the nicest off a snap header by Cornell Glen that appeared
destined for goal, but was snapped up by Sawyers.
The final ten minutes proved too
nerve-wracking for Trinidad, though, as Jamaica shed their timid second-half
style to create three genuine opportunities which went abegging mainly due to
over-confidence in front of the goal.
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