Sunday, December 05, 2010

Thomas and Jamaica Lift Digicel Cup

It took penalty kicks, but Shavar Thomas and the Jamaican team defeated Stephane Auvray and his Guadeloupe team 1-1 (5-4) in the Digicel Cup final. Colorado Rapids forward, Omar Cummings gave Jamaica the lead in the first half, but shortly after Guadeloupe equalized through Ludovic Gotin. Jamaica had the better of play through most of the rest of the game, but some good defending and goalkeeping, along with the some poor decisions by Jamaica kept the score level. Guadeloupe also had some good chances going forward, but couldn't find the net either. In extra time, Jamaica continued to be the more impressive team but didn't create many chances, the best came in the first overtime period where a Rodolph Austin volley had to be parried wide by Guadeloupe's goalkeeper. In the PK shoot out you saw a virtual clinch on how to take PKs on the first 9 kicks, as all were well taken with the keepers never getting a hand on any of them. On the final PK of the first set of 5 though, Jean Luc Lamboude placed his kick wide of the post giving the title to the Reggae Boyz. Thomas lifted the trophy after being subbed out late in the second period of extra time in a tactical move for penalty kicks while Auvray went the entire 120 minutes for Guadeloupe.

Earlier in the day, Craig Rocastle and Grenada played Cuba in the 3rd place game. The game turned out to be quite a bit better than the team's previous encounter when the two played to a drab 0-0 draw that saw both team's qualify for the semifinals. A 12th minute goal from Roberto Balmaseda was all Cuba needed in the game. Rocastle started again for Grenada and went the full 90 for the Spice Boys.

2 comments:

David H said...

Typo (something I would totally do): "Colorado Rapids forward, Omar Cummings gave Colorado the lead in the first half"

Mike said...

Thank you, fixed.