CFU Under-20 World Cup qualifiers…Relentless Jamaicans command Group ‘C’ Guyana sink Grenada

It was another goal-filled night for the Reggae Boys as they unyieldingly dominated the United States Virgin Island (USVI) in a lopsided affair, while hosts Guyana was also in the victory lane at the end of day two of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) World Cup Qualifiers at the Guyana National Stadium last night.

Jamaica crushed the USVI in the opening match that ended 13 – 0 and Guyana got past the Grenadian Squad 3 – 0 in the feature encounter.
Jamaica and Guyana now have two victories each and are on six points each, but Jamaica with a goal difference of 18 stands pretty tall against Guyana’s goal difference of seven. Grenada – third and USVI – fourth are clearly out of the race for the top spot since both team have two losses each with one game to go.

Golden Jaguars captain, Colin Nelson (r) successfully gets the ball past the diving Grenadian goal keeper to record Guyana’s third goal at the Guyana National Stadium last night. (Orlando Charles photo)

A win or a draw for Jamaica tomorrow against Guyana will guarantee them a spot in the next round while Guyana needs to defeat Jamaica to win the Group and advance.
Last night’s feature encounter had the hosts playing well-composed football which saw accurate passing and well put together runs.

The opening minutes of the encounter had the teams playing matching football and having a few attempts at goal. Guyana soon began taking control of the game with forwards Nicholas Parbudial and Sheldon Holder playing effectively in and around the 18-yard box.

Guyana’s first goal came in the 26th minute compliments of a Sheldon Holder strike. The second goal was recorded as an own goal in the 40th minute when a shot got past the keeper, hit the vertical and came back to a defender who in his effort to clear it ended up helping the ball into the back of the net.

The second 45 minutes began with Guyana ahead by two goals and they extended their lead in the 75th minute through a penalty kick taken by captain, Colin Nelson. Guyana clearly commanded ball possession for the remainder of the encounter even though the opposition had a few chances to go to goal but their efforts proved futile.

Guyana’s Goal Scorers (L-R): Sheldon Holder and Colin Nelson

Earlier in the night, the Group leaders, Jamaica, was superior in speed, skill, experience and team organization which led to the relentless attacking against the USVI team which weakened as the match progressed.

Football was played in USVI’s half for more than 75% of the encounter and after a while it became quite hopeless for the hapless opposition.
The first half had the Jamaican forwards, often getting around the USVI defenders very easily owing to their greater speed and play compositions. The Reggae Boys drew first blood, doubled and then tripled their lead when Craig Foster, Neco Brett and Allan Ottey scored in the sixth, eighth and 14th minutes respectively.
USVI’s fitness held up for the first 45 minutes of play and they managed to restrict the Jamaicans to only three goals even though the Jamaicans missed a few chances that should have been taken.

When the second half began Jamaica picked up right where they left off by storming the opposition’s goal and won a penalty kick in the 46th minute but it was not successfully taken.

Not long after Jamaica began milking goals from the opposition and with every goal scored, the USVI’s fighting spirit was depleted until eventually their body language told it all that they had given up.

For the majority of the second half the USVI goalkeeper had to fend for himself since his defenders offered little or sometime no resistance against the attacks; some defenders even began walking in the 18-yard box and letting the Jamaicans through since everything they tried failed to stop the eventual victors.

USVI breathed a sigh of relief when the regulation time whistle sounded to end a nightmare where they did not even manage to get a shot on goal for the entire second half.
Foster scored in the 67th and 85th minute to complete his hat-trick, which is his second in two matches and Carl Reid also recorded a hat-trick by scoring in the 64th, 65th and 79th minutes.
Ottey completed his brace in the 25th minute while Paul Wilson’s strikes in the 30th and 92nd minutes were successful and Nickov Christian (77th) and Rohan Rove (87th) accounted for Jamaica’s other goals.