Barbados shock Jamaica in New York Caribbean Cup

Saturday, November 21, 2009 6:25 PM

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CMC

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

BROOKLYN, USA (CMC) - Barbados recorded a major upset Sunday in the New York Caribbean Football Cup when they trounced Jamaica 3-1 at the Jefferson High School Stadium, putting an end to the defending champions' long winning streak.

Shon King, Jamal Watson and Jeffrey Williams all scored to send Jamaica to their first loss in the 12-team championship in three years, following their 1-2 loss to Haiti back in 2006.

A robust Barbadian squad put the Jamaicans under tremendous pressure from the first whistle in the fifth round of the 2009 campaign, and maintained that momentum throughout the duel.

King stunned the Jamaicans in the 15th minute when
he capitalised on a blunder from Jamaican goalkeeper Sheldon Rashidi.

The Jamaicans then unsuccessfully chased the equaliser for the rest of the first half, but the Barbadians
kept them at bay, defending manfully while maintaining
their aggression.

Additional pressure on the Jamaicans in the second half forced Rashidi to mishandle a clearance from a Waston left-flank cross in the 50th minute and the ball ended up at the back of the Jamaican net, giving Barbados their second goal.

Six minutes later, Barbados put the match out of Jamaica's reach through a stinging Williams right-footer which eluded Rashidi.

Jamaica gained some consolation when Ryan Reid converted a penalty from a Mitchell Burgess infraction in the 80th minute.

Even with time winding down, the Barbadians were unrelenting, maintaining their dominance over the five-time Caribbean Cup champions.

Barbados' head coach, Alvin Brathwaite attributed his team's big win to extraordinary hard work in the last two weeks.

"We worked on a lot of finishing drills and defensive schemes," he told CMC Sport in a post-match interview.
"I feel good that the players are now coming together. I'd told my fans that they would be surprised by the outcome today (Sunday)."

Brathwaite's Jamaican counterpart, Arthur "Jetty" Mikes, blamed his team's loss on "a bad day at work".
"Today was just not our day," he said. "The best team doesn't win at all times. Every team will have a bad day. We will rebound."

In their previous two matches this season, the Jamaicans had beaten Dominica 3-0 and Guyana 4-1.
Contrastingly, Barbados had lost to Grenada 0-1 and beaten St Vincent and the Grenadines 1-0.

In the other two matches Sunday, Haiti and Colombia were "no shows", forfeiting their matches to St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago, respectively.

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