Team St. Lucia opened week eight of the 2016 New York Caribbean Cup Soccer Tournament with a workman like effort against the U-23 Brooklyn Soca Lions team.
Because of the withdrawal of Team Barbados, the youthful Lions have filled the gap admirably during this 25th anniversary season of the Cup.
The young Lions represented themselves very well but at the end of the day, the more experienced Lucians came away with a 2-0 win on goals by Leigh Marcellin and Daran Fedee on either side of the half.
In game two between Team Guyana and Team Antigua & Barbuda was a classic 0-0 draw.
For much of the first half the game was played between the 18-yard lines, however, just before the half ended, the Golden Jaguars got a golden opportunity to go ahead from a corner but the ball just wizzed wide off the post.
Minutes into the second half, Benna Boy Jahwan Joseph was brought down inside the 18-yard box but Richard Reynolds came up big for the Golden Jaguars on the ensuing penalty to keep the score level at 0-0.
If there was an MVP vote for this game it would have gone to Richard Reynolds automatically. Following the penalty, he was tested severely by the Benna Boys for a good 10-minute stretch but blocked or pushed shot after shot wide off the post.
The Golden Jaguars eventually regained their composure for with the playoffs looming, points were crucial to both teams, however, and while both teams were happy to come away with a point one could sense the dissatisfaction with not coming away with maximum points.
The feature game of the afternoon between Team St. Vincent & the Grenadines and Team Haiti got off to a late start as once again the Team Haiti players were tardy in arriving at the park.
When the game did get started both teams had less than their full complement of 11 players on the field.
Despite playing with one player less than Team Haiti, the Vincentians adapted quite well to their situation and in fact did not play like they were over matched.
The opening goal came quite unexpectedly when Jean Gary Rubin intercepted a pass about 30 yards out and drove a scorcher toward goal. Just before the ball got to Vincy’s substitute goalkeeper Nateka Simmons, the ball bounced in front of him and skidded through his hands into the goal.
As the second half progressed, a determined Vincy Heat was on the hunt for the equalizer but 15 minutes into the half, Milcar Edson just about broke the hearts of Vincy fans when his shot from distance beat replacement substitute goalkeeper Delroy Samuel.
Following the second goal, the Vincentians had their chances to perhaps bring the game even but were denied by faulty and sometimes hesitant shooting, particularly by Daran Francis.
Games Sunday, July 24, 2016
1:30 pm – Team ST. Kitts & Nevis vs Team Panama
3:30 pm – Team Jamaica vs Team Dominica
5:30 pm – Team Guyana vs Team Grenada
