Local soccer fans get triple treat

Before the largest crowd of the young season New York Caribbean Cup soccer fans were treated to three outstanding soccer games this afternoon. At the end of the day Team St. Kitts and Nevis dominated Team Dominica 4-0, Team St. Lucia squeezed by Team Trinidad and Tobago 1-0 in a game that could have gone either way, and in the nightcap, the match of the day, Team Grenada’s two early first half goals held up for a 2-1 win over Team Guyana.

Team St. Kitts and Nevis wins

From the opening, Team St. Kitts and Nevis played with more determination and organization as Team Dominica defended stoutly. For this game, Team Dominica showed up with a goalkeeper who helped keep the “Sugar Boyz” at bay for much of the first half, but at the 25th minute, Joeski Williams pounced on a loose ball inside the box and slid the ball home to put his team up 1-0. Five minutes later, kicking toward Egan Street, the referee put the ball on the spot after an infringement inside the box against Team Dominica. Donroy Liburd stepped up and made no mistake, Team St. Kitts/Nevis 2 Team Dominica 0.

Just before the end of the first half, Team St. Kitts/Nevis snared its third goal when Team Dominica’s defense watched Yusuf Saunders rise above them and head home from a corner kick.

On resumption, it took the “Sugar Boyz” 15 minutes to widen the gap. Substitute Jamie McKoy ran on to a ball misplayed by Team Dominica’s defense and between hesitation, indecision and luck, eventually bundled the ball into the net. McKoy actually had more opportunities to score that would have given Team St. Kitts/Nevis a wider margin of victory but shooting is not something practiced on a Sunday as he missed a couple of good opportunities. At the whistle it was a well deserved 4-0 win for the twin-island.

Team St. Lucia makes it Two from Two

After their win against Team Grenada on opening day, the game against Team St. Lucia was probably the measuring stick for Team Trinidad and Tobago as to their improvement in the New York Caribbean Cup Soccer Tournament.

For most of the first half, neither team threatened either’s goal-keeper except in minute 26, when Team St. Lucia’s Dujon Verneige missed a sitter from dead in front of the goal. Then six minutes later, Team TNT Soca Ballers returned the favor when Anderson Garcia shot wide of the square.

The second half was a carbon copy of the first with both teams getting chances to score but neither capitalizing. It was not until the 29th minute that the ice broke. Soca Ballers goal-keeper Marcus Maurice brought off a spectacular save, diving to his right to block a shot, only to see the ball rebound and fall at the feet of Dujon Verneige who this time was on the mark. This sent Team St. Lucia and their fans into a wild celebration as the goal held up to the final whistle. It was a tough loss for the Soca Ballers particularly when Keston George got a chance to split the points for his team seconds from the final whistle. The win places Team St. Lucia in sole possession of first place in the Western Zone with two wins from two games.

Team Grenada And Team Guyana Light Up The Park

After their goal glut against Team Panama on opening day, the anticipation of how Team Guyana would do against many times champions Team Grenada was enormous. The other question was could Team Grenada shake off their opening day loss to Team Trinidad and Tobago?

These questions would soon be answered as the table was set with “the Spice Boyz” kicking toward the Flatlands goal with Team Guyana shooting at the Egan Street goal.

The Golden Jaguars appeared to be dominating the early exchanges but it was Spice that struck first when Marcus Julien out jumped the defense from a throw-in to head home. It is not often you catch goal-keeper Adrian Alfred out of position as he scrambled in vain to get to the ball.

Much like the first goal, goal number two was pretty much against the run of play. Shane Rennie picked up a ball, dribbled down the right side and sent a thunderous right-footer just outside the box screaming past Adrian Alfred.

Down two goals, one may have thought you’d see a falloff in the play of Team Guyana but the opposite was the case as the intensity of the game increased a few decibels. The to and fro, end to end action had the largest crowd of the young season screaming their heads off when finally thanks to the alertness of Anthony Abrams, pulled one back for Team Guyana. He outraced the advancing goal-keeper Ken Searles to a through ball and was able to guide the ball into an unprotected net.

Team Grenada 2, Team Guyana 1, when play resumed for the second half, but there was no further scoring as the Spice Boyz held on doggedly to their one-goal advantage.

While the game deteriorated a bit toward the end, the consensus was that this was the most exciting game of the young season as both teams left it all on the field.