Snak

Vi ka´ vel ligeså godt holde lidt øje med den her liga, så længe der lidt Valencia interesse og JAM er i HEXA´en

Boys´ Town keep in touch

Boys´ Town maintained their slim title hopes with a 3-1 win over Highgate in the Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL) at Collie Smith Drive yesterday afternoon.

Nicholas McMorris (7th minute), Marvin Stewart (42nd), and substitute Michael Campbell (88th) scored for the hosts, while Shamar Stewart (69th) got the consolation for the visitors.

Boys´ Town dominated the contest and could have won by a wider margin of through a string scoring opportunities, especially by second-half substitute Jermaine Allen, who missed three easy chances.

They, however, took the lead when Nicholas McMorris headed home a left-sided corner, which was curled in by Marvin Morgan.

The hosts went further ahead when Stewart shifted Highgate´s onrushing goalkeeper Romaine Hamilton then tapped into an unprotected goal from a tight angle in the 42nd minute.

Although two goals down, Highgate, who are fighting for survival in the league, kept chipping away with some good attacking plays by Severo Murphy, Kevin Williams, and Shamir Stewart before finally cutting the deficit when Stewart netted in the second half.

Regular Boys´ Town captain Michael Stewart came off the bench and sealed the deal for The Red Brigade with a well-struck free kick that beat Highgate´s schoolboy keeper Hamilton late in the game.

Control the game

"It was a workmanlike performance, and we made hard work of it. We should have really put away this team from the first half by scoring more goals," said Boys´ Town coach Andrew Price.

"I think we basically had control of the game. We need to be more responsible as players, but at the end of the day, our mission was accomplished. We wanted to acquire three points so that we can keep some pressure on the leaders," he added, before underlining that he was not giving up on the title.

"Of course, we are still in the title race. There are seven more games to play in the league and anything can happen in those seven games.We have to make sure we put ourselves in a position where if there is an opportunity to capitalise, we are going to take it."

Mindful of Highgate´s entry into the round two points behind Humble Lion in the relegation battle, coach Michael Smith remained optimistic that although his team lost the game, they would continue to fight the battle.

"I think we started out a little flat, playing a quality team like Boys´ Town. We didn´t come out and play for the first 45 minutes. I think we played flat right throughout the game," said Smith.

"We went back into the changing room and we sat down and reasoned it out. I think we played most of the ball in the second half. I think this game could have drawn 2-2 or we could have lose this game more. I think we played a super second half," he added.

SCORES

Sporting Academy 1 Montego Bay 0

Boys´ Town 3 Highgate 1

Waterhouse 1Harbour View 0

Arnett Gardens 2 Savannah 1

Portmore United 0 Humble Lions 0

´Tuffy´ Anderson sends title race wide open ... Striker scores controversial goal to sink leaders Harbour View

Jermaine ´Tuffy´ Anderson slammed home his 18th goal of the season to maintain Waterhouse´s hopes of wresting the 2012-2013 Red Stripe Premier League title away from Harbour View.

Anderson´s 72nd-minute goal was enough to see Waterhouse get by the leaders Harbour View 1-0 in round 31 to reduced the Stars of the East´s lead atop the 12-team standings to eight points

Harbour View are now on 61 points with seven rounds of games to be played, while second-place Waterhouse have progressed to 53 points.

contentious manner

The keenly contested affair was settled in a contentious manner as a quickly taken free kick, which was allowed by referee Raymond Bogle despite the ball appearing to be moving, was chipped over the top of Harbour View´s defence by Hughan Gray to Anderson. Anderson also appeared to have clearly been in an offside position, but he was not flagged by assistant referee Kedlee Powell.

The powerfully built striker seized the opportunity to blast his shot pass the helpless Michaud Barrett in Harbour View´s goal.

"I am disappointed by how the goal was scored, the man (Anderson) was offside by at least a yard," Harbour View´s head coach, Vin Blaine, said. "The assistant referee was right beside it, so I am very disappointed losing that kind of way."

Anderson disagrees.

"It was not offside, it was the running off the ball that I used to kill the defence," Anderson countered.

Waterhouse´s head coach, Junior Francis, was in total agreement with his striker, even though admitting that there may have been some element of luck involved.

"Football is full of luck, but in my opinion that was not offside," Francis said. "He is the leading goalscorer and our team is built around him, so we were looking forward to him scoring.

"We want the title and we will be going all out to win all of our remaining seven games."

Harbour were without their leading scorer Jermaine Hue and captain Montrose Phin, who are both away in Costa Rica with the national team. Blaine, however, believed this did not impact the game´s outcome.

"Our players being missing had nothing to do with it, we played extremely well."

Vi ka´ vel ligeså godt holde lidt øje med den her liga, så længe der lidt Valencia interesse og JAM er i HEXA´en

Naturligvis. Jeg nyder at følge alt omkring vores afslappede venner!


Havde desværre frygtet for Nosworthy, da det var en hård tackling og generelt kamp.
- Så går han også glip af de 3 juni-kampe. Det er nu, "Junior" skal hentes ind...

Beckford og ham den tunge defensive midtbane blev også skadede, men overkom vist skader.


Godt med Jermaine Jones ude i det moralske topbrag, så absolut en profil for yankeerne.

Ja det ser ud til det begynder at ligne Advantage Mexico, USA, Honduras og Jam ....med Nosworthy skadet og Dely Valdes karantæneramt i kampen mod Honduras, for at have svinet dommeren i kampen mod Costa Rica.


Jamaicansk fodbold er yderst interessant ...der meget historik og politik gemt i den...Manley Vs Seaga Arnett Gardens vs Tivoli Gardens ...de "moderne" storklubber i Portsmore United og Harbour View....genrejsningen af Boys Town det tidligere storhold, nu mangler vi bare Santos (opkaldt efter ...tilbage i det fine selskab sammen med Montego Bay klubberne, Violet Kickers, Seba United og Wadadah

Tænker også at Samba kunne have interesse at følge lidt med...Vasco Sports Direktør Rene Simoes var jo ham som førte Jamaica til VM 1998...så tog Clovis over fuckede det op....men det ser ud til Monterroso er med endnu...s der stadigvæk brasilianere tilknyttet setuppet.

Nu indkaldte han (Tappa) så Montrose phinn fra Harbour View som cover for Nyron - en anden mulig erstatning kunne på den lidt længere bane blive Ashani Fairclough fra Seattle Sounders...jamaicanerne gør sig også godt i MLS....det rygtes fra ø´en at han er mere talentfuld end Jermaine Taylor og bedre end den jævnaldrene Alvas Powell...så mon ikke det ser lidt lyst ud trods alt...

Kan de samtidigt få overtalt Hoilett, Routledge og Dyer fra Swansea til at slutte op omkring VM-kvallen - Så går Jamaica fra at være outsider til at være favorit til at kvalificere sig direkte til VM 2014.

The door has been closed shut on any Jamaican player seeking to launch his career by playing Japanese league football, after Harbor View request a 1 Million Euro transfer fee for school boy Jorginho James or 100,000 euro loan fee.

The J league club was seeking to open doors for many Jamaican youth players by allowing James to become the first ever Jamaican player to play in the J League, the club offered James a 10 month preliminary contract, which would have lead to him eventually signing a long term contract, which would have allowed the club to bring two players each year on trial from HV or surrounding Jamaican clubs, along with creating opportunities for many Jamaican coaches.

The Japanese league over the years have become one of the most watched leagues in Asia and around the world, European clubs over the years have signed more players from the J league than MLS or the mexican league combined.

James has not played an intrical role at HV with their first team, and have played very little most recently on the Jamaican U20 National during the early stages of the qualifying games, James also failed to make the high school all star team which traveled to Florida late last year.

This opportunity would have certainly launch young James career, Its a sad day as HV football club short sightedness, greed and selfish ways have again ruined an opportunity for another young Jamaican player.

James was quickly sent home from Japan after the unreasonable request from HV was made.

Brazil-Russia: Scolari claims national team should play more games in Brazil

Brazil´s manager Luiz Felipe Scolari feels the national team should be playing more games in Brazil, rather than playing too many games abroad.

The Seleção have an agreement with a foreign company that organize their games, which has led to a big increase in the distance between the national team and the Brazilian fans, who often feel the team do not represent Brazil anymore.

The fact Brazil will host the next World Cup also complicates the situation, as the games abroad prevent the national team from getting used to the kind of conditions they will have to face at home during the competition.

Scolari said this during yesterday´s press conference: "The pressure is not less or higher in Brazil. What happens is that we play away so much because the company that has the rights to promote these friendlies with Brazil prefers us to play away".

The former Palmeiras manager added: "We would prefer to play more in Brazil rather than abroad but we have this agreement to now play in Brazil".

Since 2003, Brazil have played 152 official and friendly matches but only 25 of those games were played in Brazil, according to the site futdados.

The national team played 67 friendlies during the same period, 12 of them were played in England while only six were played in Brazil.

Brazil-Russia: Scolari preparing ´strongest´ squad for Confederations Cup

Seleção boss Luiz Felipe Scolari says that he will have an idea of his strongest squad by the time the Confederations Cup arrives.

Scolari says he will assess all the players at their disposal for the national team and says he will have an idea which of those will stay with the Seleção over the next few months.

The coach said he was continuing to assess the considerable talents at his disposal, with more than 60 players due to be considered for national team selection.

"I´m quite happy with it because I think we are improving a little by little," he said."I believe maybe in four months´ time when we have played the Confederations Cup we will have already observed more than 60 players for the World Cup and we may have an idea which ones are going to be the ones (to make the final squad).

"At the moment I can´t say much because with only two games we´re still trying to organise everything."

Chile - Uruguay - optakt...

The Man Who Would Be Bielsa

For a brief moment, he made La Universidad de Chile aka “La U” one of South America’s most entertaining club sides of the past 2 years, as of today Jorge Sampaoli is Chile’s national team manager – he was hired to right the ship that too many saw was sinking fast under Claudio Borghi’s massive ego.

Chile’s 2014 World Cup hopes have been tied in one way or another to an “Argentinean” manager. Chile’s success on the national stage is due in large to Marcelo Bielsa’s hard work; Bielsa implemented a “fútbol vértigo” approach – which resulted in Chile qualifying directly to the 2010 World Cup and a second round exit at the hands of Brazil in South Africa; Previous to the 2010 World Cup, Chile had last appeared in the 1998 World Cup (during the Salas/Zamorano era) where Chile also lost at the hands of Brazil.

But unlike 1998, Chile actually won a game before their inevitable exit – scratch that, make that 2 games! Vague comparisons with Menotti’s 1978 Argentina side were offered, Bielsa’s Chile became the Hipster Neutral’s side to follow – things looked on the up and up and then…Bielsa split to coach Athletic Bilbao. Claudio Borghi, another Argentine was drafted, a firm believer in a “vértigo” style of football, shortly after arriving, Borghi took aim at Bielsa’s work, “Bielsa approach? What is Bielsa’s approach? Three in the back, 2 wingerbacks – Bilardo came up with that in ’86. Everything in football has already been invented.”

Regardless of whether Borghi wanted to give any credit to the manager who came before him, he did inherit a squad that qualified directly to the 2010 World Cup. Chile entered the 2011 Copa America as a dark horse candidate to win it all, especially when Argentina was revealed to be a massive mess early in the group stage – Chileans in close proximity to Mendoza where some of Chile’s matches were held would be able to see their team up close.

But lightning in a bottle was not uncovered by Borghi – Instead, all “vertical” sides participating in the 2011 Copa America, like Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Brazil and then Colombia fell by the waste side. The defensively stronger sides like Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela were able to get results over them and progress further along in the tournament.

Chile’s quarterfinal exit was followed by lopsided losses in World Cup Qualification: a 4-1 loss to Argentina, a 4-0 loss to Uruguay – despite the losses Chile were winning their home games. A 4-2 win over Peru in Matchday 2, was followed by a 2-0 win over Paraguay in Matchday 4. Borghi’s Chile got a 2-0 win over Bolivia in La Paz followed by an away win over Venezuela in Matchday 6.There were positive results there if anybody had cared to inspect them and for all practical purposes, Chile were improving.

But then like Uruguay, Chile ran into the much improved Colombia, who came into Santiago and got a 3-1 win over the Chileans in Matchday 8. The 3-1 loss to Ecuador in Quito and 2-1 loss to Argentina in Santiago though were the straws that broke the camel’s back and so when push came to shove, Borghi was less “Novus Bielsa” to Chile’s FA and more clueless windbag. – the man who had been the 2nd choice playmaker on the 1986 World Cup winning Argentinean Squad had burned enough bridges.

Chile’s FA turned to Jorge Sampaoli. Sampaoli’s began his coaching career in Peru, where he presided over clubs like Juan Aurich, Sports Boys, Coronel Bolognesi and Sporting Cristal – it was his transformation of La “U” into a South American vertical football side that made Chile’s FA take notice. After he guided La “U” to a Copa Sudamericana in 2011 – and Borghi’s Chile was flatlining in September/October, Sampaoli was brought in.

His first taste of the qualifiers as Chile’s NT manager resulted in a loss. The game was Peru vs Chile, a match played in Lima – but now Sampaoli gets a do-over, Chile vs Uruguay.

Chile’s FA hired Sampaoli with the simple purpose to win their home-games since they have 3 remaining home matches, their last two home games were losses (Colombia & Argentina) – the logic is that those 3 home matches will add up to wins which would translate to 9 points. Those 9 points plus one away win will be enough for Chile to qualify directly but it may be that in their rush to crown Sampaoli as the “new Bielsa” Chile’s FA may have actually rushed him out of the gate too soon. Despite the late 2012 losses, Borghi’s Chile wasn’t out for the count. Like Uruguay they struggled, Borghi could have righted the ship, if given more time and it is worth noting that Borghi’s Chile defeated Peru twice, at home in Match Day 2 (4-2 win over their classic rival) and in the 2011 Copa America (1-0 win in CA group match) – it’s possible that Borghi could have masterminded another win over Peru if given more time.

The Peru match played this past Friday was important, three points were available – The loss however plunged Chile to 6th place in the CONMEBOL standings. If the Qualifiers ended today, Chile would not be going to Brazil. As of today though Chile has one more win than Uruguay but three more losses.

The bulk of Chile’s arguments to get into the 2014 World Cup were laid out by Claudio Borghi – Chile now needs a win, not so much to escape 6th place –– unlike Uruguay they have one more home match to get three points –– but to justify Sampaoli’s hiring.

When Bielsa arrived one fine day as Chile’s manager he had already guided Argentina to the 2002 World Cup, won Olympic Gold in the 2004 Olympics and a runners-up finish in the 2004 Copa America – comparing that resume to Sampaoli’s, which for the time being only has that Copa Sudamericana win to boast about is preposterous at best.

With only 6 games remaining, Sampaoli has to figure out how to get wins, on Tuesday, his side will face Uruguay who have struggled like Chile since September to get points – The man who would be Bielsa, doesn’t have time to be the new Bielsa – right now he has to figure out how to avoid being the next Borghi!

Ready to Rumble or Ready to Stumble?


As per Tenfield’s website, Uruguay who arrived in Chile already, may have decided on their starting XI already. They report, Muslera; Aguirregaray; Lugano; Godin; Alvaro Pereira; Gonzalez; Arevalo-Rios; Rodriguez; Lodeiro; Suarez; Forlan –– Another report from the same website later changed it to Gaston Ramirez instead of Rodriguez.

With or without Ramirez, it’s still an interesting lineup, bordering a bit on desperation sure but heck, beggars can’t be choosers now – and well to be honest, there aren’t too many quick-fix remedies out there. You would think a national team that features Luis Suarez, Edinson Cavani and Diego Forlan all playing together wouldn’t have too many problems, but problems they have.

Uruguay’s next three matches will be away games, their first one, this Tuesday against Chile, closes out the combo Match 11/12 WCQ dates. Depending on what happens in Santiago, will probably set the tone for what happens the rest of the way. Uruguay’s schedule doesn’t get better after Santiago, it only gets worse. After a 3 month sojourn, Uruguay will face Venezuela in June, followed by Peru in Lima and then Colombia at home in the month of September. Uruguay then gets to travel to Quito to face Ecuador before facing Argentina at home in October to closeout the 2014 World Cup Qualifiers.

Uruguay’s sense of urgency – a key ingredient added to Uruguay’s NT when Uruguay faced Ecuador in 2009 – has been missing now for a while. Uruguay hasn’t been Uruguay since well… 2011, that was the year Uruguay won the Copa America, spanked Italy in Rome with a rare 1-0 win – the zenith of what a Uruguay team should aspire to, can be found in what they did in 2011. Perhaps the Olympics, with the stigmata of failure it brought about, did more to damage OWT than previously thought. El Maestro’s press conference Friday night, following the shock-draw the Paraguayans secured, was testy at best – as usual, OWT lectured a reporter into the ways of the world. Listening to this press conference, I was left a little saddened by all of this, Uruguay shouldn’t be having so many problems, after all they’ve only lost three times. These qualifiers however have taken on a sense of chess-like checkmate at every turn and each game has revealed that OWT’s Uruguay lacks a proper endgame.

It’s not just defensive errors which have proved costly, lack of goals have also been a problem since September of last year – with Suarez or Cavani scoring only one goal in every other game, that’s one goal for 180 minutes of play. Uruguay’s two Salto-born strikers, who each lead their respective leagues in scoring (Suarez 22 goals in the EPL, Cavani 20 goals in Serie-A) haven’t managed to find a way to co-exist without Diego Forlan, who should be seeing less minutes, not starting matches. His inclusion at this moment in time, prevents any type of chemistry between Suarez and Cavani from developing, instead Cavani has become the formation aberration. A deep-lying winger expected to join the attack, provided he gets out of Suarez’ way first. That doesn’t make sense – and it shouldn’t but then still including Diego Perez and Diego Lugano makes little sense either. Lugano out of the three “Diegos” still has some intrinsic value. A destroyer in the back, at the height of his powers, the 2005 Intercontinental playoffs – he was the Rembrandt of Destruction. Not so anymore, but the defenders still defer to him, much in the same way Suarez and Rodriguez defer to Forlan. But it was that inability on OWT’s part, to find a suitable replacement for Lugano that maybe doomed this squad. Out of eleven matches played, Uruguay only obtained one clean sheet – against Chile in 2011, the game where Claudio Borghi, Chile’s previous NT manager benched 5 starters for disciplinary issues. In these qualifiers, Uruguay’s defense has allowed goals to every other country they’ve faced thus far.

So where does Uruguay go from here? Well – Usually in every WCQ campaign – be it 2002, 2006, 2010… there are two or three matches, where Uruguay puts up a fight – which one will it be this time around? We haven’t seen any since 2011 – but it could well be that the Santiago match, which afforded Uruguay a win in the 2002 Qualifiers is that match – who knows, it could be the Ecuador match again, or maybe like the 2002 side, Uruguay with a bit of accidental luck, ends up 5th overall. Tuesday we’ll know for sure what kind of a team we have.


http://www.lacelesteblog.com/?p=8305