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Digicel Caribbean Cup: Jamaica need to get back on the ball against Haiti

published: Sunday | October 1, 2006

Howard Walker, Staff Reporter

IF JAMAICA are to advance to the next round of the Digicel Caribbean Cup, they will have to quickly forget their last 135 minutes at 'The Office'.

The Reggae Boyz entertains Haiti at 6:00 p.m. today after St. Vincent and The Grenadines tackle St. Lucia at 4:00 at the National Stadium.

Jamaica slumped to an embarrassing 2-1 defeat to St. Vincent on Friday night and are tentatively in second position in the group on three points, the same as St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Haiti lead the group with maximum six points after mauling St Lucia 7-1, who remain without a point.

Hosts Jamaica turned in another pathetic display, and were duly booed throughout the entire game and continued their woeful performance since the second half of the first game.

In fact, so disappointed were the home fans that they cheered every move by the St. Vincent team.

Jamaica's coach Carl Brown, despite hearing the fans chanting for him to be fired, understood their anger.

"This is the easiest and most relaxed that I have been," Brown said after the match. It's basically what has been happening in football for a little while, and that is what we have seen tonight."

When quizzed if he saw Jamaica not advancing to the next round, Brown said he "didn't believe it was a picture that we would want to see. Our responsibility is to get out there and beat the Haitians. We are capable of doing that".

"It might not have been easier if we were playing St Lucia. The Haitian team will motivate us and we have to win this game. This is an opportunity for them to lift themselves and demonstrate that they can compete at the regional level," said Brown.

For today's game, Brown said there won't be a lot of changes to the team.

more aggressive

"We just have to get out there and be more aggressive and more purposeful with the things we do," he said.

Zoran Vranes, coach of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, had promised to beat Jamaica again after twice achieving that feat as coach of Trinidad and Tobago.

St. Vincent opened the scoring in the 48th minute when Wesley John stuck before Kendal Velox doubled the lead with a wonderful strike from 35 metres out in the 70th minute which flew past a static Shawn Sawyers.

Three minutes later, substitute Roland Dean reduced the deficit, heading home a Garfield Reid corner in the 73rd minute.

After the final whistle, St. Vincent celebrated as if they had won the competition, and were applauded by the home fans.

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