Guyana hammer USVI 5-1; Jamaica maul Grenada 6-1

Oct 07, 2010 Sports

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By Franklin Wilson
The Caribbean Football Union World Under-20 qualifying Group C got off to a bang of a start at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence last evening with the host team hammering the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) 5-1 in the feature game and Jamaica opening their quest with a solid 6-1 whipping of Grenada in the opening encounter.
Watched by a small but appreciative crowd, the ‘Junior Jaguars’ worked their way to a solid win against the USVI which started off well but as the Guyanese grew in confidence the visitors were reduced to spectators especially in the second half.
The Guyanese can count themselves unlucky missing a plethora of chances while the USVI will say they are lucky to be in the right place at the right time clearing at least four balls of their line.
Captain and central defender Colin Nelson continued his fine form and leadership putting the Guyanese ahead in the 14th minute from the penalty spot as a result of the USVI’s Clifford Adams handling the ball in the box.
Nelson with his calm, confident style nailed the shot past goalkeeper Walton Stuart. Marco Marcus, who played well for Guyana (right side midfield) had earlier hit the cross bar and was unlucky as the ball rebounded into play.
The young Jaguars grew in confidence as the game progressed and with the game 26 minutes old; striker Telson McKinnon collected a cross from the busy and effective Eon Alleyne, left the USVI’s Derrick Smith and goalkeeper Stuart in his wake to bang the ball into the wide open goal.
Sheldon Holder with a fierce shot soon after had Stuart at full stretch parrying the ball into touch but poor defensive work by the Guyanese in the 34th minute allowed the USVI to lessen the lead when Garson Baker fouled Macdonald Taylor who was goal bound. Taylor made the Guyanese pay for that lapse by converting.
The second half saw the Young Jaguars turning up the heat against the USVI made up of a number of well built players. The attacks were relentless but many of the shots were off target and those in close proximity to goal were cleared off the line at the very last moment by the USVI defenders.
Eon Alleyne, who was part of the history making Golden Jaguars who played against Cray Wanderers in London in early August, restored the two goal cushion for Guyana with a well placed volley in the 52nd minute.
Guyana continued to enjoy possession and made substitutions at strategic intervals to maintain their dominance.
Baker made way for Les Charles Critchlow in midfield in the 50th minute; Marcus came off in the 72nd for Nicholas Parbhudial in the 72nd and three minutes later, Kevin Beaton replaced McKinnon.
The changes in midfield allowed Guyana to maintain their dominance of the game. After many near misses, Sheldon Holder finally inked his name on the score sheet with a well earned goal with 6 minutes to game time. About five minutes before he scored, Holder hit the left upright with a header.
To cap a good performance by the home team, Beaton who tormented the USVI defence for the few minutes he came on, pounced on a loose ball in the first minute of added on time (90+1) to score Guyana’s 5th goal. The ball had eluded the keeper and defence.
Head Coach Gordon Brathwaite in brief comments after the game stated that his charges missed too many chances but there has been a marked improvement in the offensive work ethic of the team.
“I think we will do much better but I thought we missed too many chances in this game. We have to practice more finishing; there is a problem in Guyana where players feel when they have to try a goal attempt they have to shoot hard instead of finishing.”
Brathwaite also noted that the team has to be better in defence and believes that since it was the first game the team was under some amount of pressure to do well.
In the opening game, the lads from Reggae Island, Jamaica, made light work of Grenada working their way to a solid 6-1 win.
Grenada started off well initially but fell away; they were reduced to 10 in the 38th minute when Klinton Jones forgot it was a football game and tried a basketball move as he tipped the ball over the bar after his keeper completely missed. For his lapse he was given marching orders which placed the team under tremendous pressure.
Jamaica had made their intentions known when they scored the first goal in the first minute of the game to be precise, 11seconds.
It was the first of three for Greg Foster who rocked the nets again in the 40th and 75th minute. Neco Brett cashed in twice with efforts in the 46th and 77th while the other goal came off the boot of Allan Ottey in the 61st minute. Grenada’s consolation was scored by Kamal Samuel in the 32nd minute.
Action will continue tomorrow at the same venue from 17:00hrs when Jamaica face the USVI and Guyana oppose Grenada.

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