Jabloteh win four-hour farce

KICKS from the penalty spot were required and, in the end, CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh prevailed 4-2 against W Connection in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) final, to advance to the eight-team 2004 CONCACAF Club Champion-ships. Connection did well to overcome a 2-1 first leg deficit to level the aggregate scoreline at 3-3 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo on Sunday night but were undone in a penalty shootout for the second final in a week. North East Stars dethroned the Savonetta lads 4-1 in a shootout at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Tunapuna in the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) FA Trophy decider on December 21. But Sunday’s match was reduced to a farce as two power outages extended the duration of the match to four hours, much to the dismay of the crowd numbering 3,000.

It was a poor advertisement for local football, which was aggravated by the announcer Steve Alvarez (a politician who is also a director at the Jabloteh club) who, in the dying stages of full-time, stated that the stand-by generator would be shut down at the end of the match.
But, with the fans making their way to the exits, he made an about-turn, revealing that the match will be going into sudden-death injury time. By that time, the light was noticeably dimming but, with the scores tied on aggregate, Jabloteh drew on their reserves to leave Connection trophy-less to date (at the national senior level) in the 2003 season. Jabloteh striker Cornell Glen got the match’s first opportunity, breaking Connection’s offside trap and shooting wide after two minutes. Eight minutes later (at 6.17 pm) the Stadium went into total darkness and, after play restarted at 6.41 pm, Jabloteh’s Otis Seaton (14th) and Trent Noel (19th) as well as Connection’s dreadlocked forward Titus Elva (16th) sent their shots off-target.

The pace was picking up, with Connection’s goalkeeper Alejandro Figueroa forced to block a goal-bound drive from Jabloteh’s Kerry Baptiste in the 20th. But, with Angus Eve about to take the right-side corner, another blackout occurred, this time lasting from 6.51 pm to 7.35 pm. The fans and the players displayed extreme patience in the midst of the comical happenings, with the officials painstakingly waiting for each of the four floodlights to work. When the contest resumed, Connection got on the scoresheet against the run of play. In the 25th, Ronaldo Viana played a ball on the right to the path of Elva whose knock-down was volleyed home by the lurking Gefferson Goulart.

Jabloteh’s right-back Cyd Gray missed two attempts in the 29th minute, while an Eve freekick rebounded off the bar in the 39th. Three minutes later Eve sent Seaton clear on the left and, after skipping past defender Rawle Fletcher, his cross to Baptiste was blocked by Figueroa, with Glen slamming the loose ball into the open net. Goulart had a hand in Connection’s second (which levelled the aggregate scores), feeding substitute Kerwyn “Hardes” Jemmott on the left the temperamental midfielder slammed his left-footer past the reach of Jabloteh’s goalie Daurance Williams in the 52nd. With their backs against the wall, Jabloteh stormed back searching for the go-ahead goal — a Glen deflected freekick in the 54th minute cannoned off the bar, Noel headed an Eve corner high in the 69th and, in sudden-death a Baptiste shot also struck the woodwork and trickled out of play.

Connection had their moments, with substitute striker Jason Marcano shooting overbar in the 77th and national youth team defender Kenwyne Jones having his 101st minute header (from a Silvio Spann corner) cleared off the line by Williams. But the spotkicks were necessitated, and Jabloteh’s quartet of Noel, Eve, Baptiste and Glen all converted theirs, while Viana and Goulart found the back of the net for the Southerners. Connection’s second attempt by Jose Luis Seabra’s was saved by Williams and, needing to score to keep the contest alive, Jemmott rolled his try wide of the post. Other teams in the CONCACAF knock-out tournament, which begins on March 17, are CF Monterrey and CF Pachuca of Mexico, CSD Communicaciones of Guatemala, the Costa Rican duo of Deportivo Saprissa and LD Alajuelense, as well as top American outfits Chicago Fire and San Jose Earthquakes.
Teams —

San Juan Jabloteh: Daurance Williams; Keyeno Thomas, Ansil Elcock, Nigel Daniel, Cyd Gray; Trent Noel, Angus Eve (capt), Josh Johnson (Travis Mulraine 61st), Kerry Baptiste; Otis Seaton (Nigel Pierre 85th), Cornell Glen.
W Connection: Alejandro Figueroa; Reynold Carrington (capt), Lyndon Diaz (Kerwyn Jemmott 47th), Rawle Fletcher (Silvio Spann 79th), Kenwyne Jones; Elijah Joseph, Jose Luis Seabra, Ronaldo Viana, Gefferson Goulart; Leonson Lewis (Jason Marcano 61st), Titus Elva.