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Play Whe San Juan Jabloteh secured a spot in the qualification stages of the 2017/18 CONCACAF qualifying stage yesterday evening, after defeating Japs North East Stars 1-0 in a feisty affair at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella.
(Courtesy Chevaughn Christopher/Wired868)
The win took Jabloteh to 54 points and out of reach of Defence Force, who could only muster a 1-1 draw against Morvant Caledonia United at the Larry Gomes Stadium in Malabar.
Defence Force finished ahead of DirecTV W Connection in third place. But it is champions Central FC and Jabloteh who will represent the Pro League in next year’s regional club competition. It will be Jabloteh’s first performance in the showcase tournament since 2010.
Tyrone Charles, who played on the left wing of a 4-2-3-1 formation, scored the lone goal to assure the San Juan-based club of a spot in the Confederation’s top club tournament, only three years after they were forced to drop out of the Pro League due to financial constraints.
The defining moment came in the 60th minute when midfielder Keyon Edwards played a diagonal ball from deep within the Jabloteh half to Charles on the left flank.
Charles dribbled into the box while his shot from 10 yards deflected off a recovering defender to beat Stars goalkeeper Shane Mattis at his near post.
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/Wired868)
Mattis was deputising for Glenroy Samuel, who is on duty with the Trinidad and Tobago National Senior Team in Peru, while Stars coach Ross Russell said his usual second choice, Cleon John, was unwell.
The game began at a high tempo, with Jabloteh attacking midfielder Fabien Reid involved in most of his team’s attacks.
Reid, a pacy dribbler, forced Mattis into a brilliant double save in the fourth minute while he also created opportunities for skipper Damian Williams, lanky striker Jamal Gay and Charles, which neither player could take.
North East Stars workman-like attitude did not make things easy by any means, as they constantly applied pressure and passed the ball accurately with midfield maestro Ryan “Fry” Stewart involved in most of their build up play.
Jabloteh continued to create chances. But, in the end, Charles’ goal was enough to settle the contest and secure Jabloteh a Champions League qualifying spot for next year.
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/CA-images/Wired868)
(Teams)
San Juan Jabloteh (4-2-3-1): 30.Shemel Louison (GK); 18.Jevon Morris (4.Garth Thomas 34), 21.Aquil Selby, 24.Adrian Reid, 6.Akeem Benjamin; 8.Keyon Edwards, 11.Damian Williams (captain); 23.Kennedy Hinkson (2.Noel Williams 73), 13.Fabian Reid (9.Brent Sam 77), 10.Tyrone Charles; 7.Jamal Gay.
Unused Substitutes: 35.Andrew Durant (GK), 2.Noel Williams, 14.Sean Bonval, 17.Josiah Trimmingham, 20.Aaquil Campbell.
Coach: Keith Jeffrey
North East Stars F.C. (4-1-4-1): 1.Shane Mattis (GK); 3.Kion Joseph (Jean Luc Rochford 73), 25.Keryn Navarro, 19.Glenton Wolfe, 4.Jesus Perez; 21.Neil Mitchell; 24 Adrian Noel (14.Chike Sullivan 61), 5.Ryan Stewart, 26.Anthony Wolfe (captain), 7.Kerry Daniel (Brendan Figuera 72nd); 40.Kerry Baptiste.
Unused Substitutes: 22.Cleon John (GK), 27.Quincy Charles, 29.Hakim Baird, 41.Reon Moore.
Coach: Ross Russell
Referee: Dennis Changiah
Man of the Match: Fabien Reid (San Juan Jabloteh)
(Courtesy Chevaughn Christopher/Wired868)
Pro League results
(Saturday May 21)
Defence Force 1 (Jerwyn Balthazar 57), Morvant Caledonia United 1 (Akim Armstrong 33) at Larry Gomes Stadium;
San Juan Jabloteh 1 (Tyrone Charles 61), North East Stars 0 at Mannie Ramjohn Stadium;
Point Fortin Civic 5 (Jamille Boatswain 5, 45, Shane Garraway 50, Sylvester Teesdale 68, Bevon Bass 90), Police FC 0 at Mahaica Oval;
Caledonia won 4-1 on kicks from the penalty mark.
(Courtesy Nicholas Bhajan/Wired868)
(Friday May 20)
Central FC 7 (Ricardo John 14, 48, 60, Jason Marcano 63, 66, 90, Kadeem Corbin 84), St Ann’s Rangers 0 at Ato Boldon Stadium;
Club Sando 2 (Kevon Woodley 22, Akeem Humphrey 38), W Connection 5 (Malik St Prix 9, 58, Dimitrie Apai 68, Andre Toussaint 79, 83) at Ato Boldon Stadium.
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I now realize who wrote the article. The big man in the business! :v
Lol. We sent Mourinho into the field!
The big man in the business is Iwer “The Boss” George Roneil, lol
First round the better football came from north east stars w connection central fc an defence force the better posessional style game came from north east the second round the quality droped an it got worst 3rd round central posesdional game changed to a more phisical game w connection looked tired D force lost it catch back to late janlo catch it back in time so was calie to late the bottom 3 just died out
The top 2 teams this season are good of the counter attack and can press you higher up the field if necessary. The defence is robust and midfield works hard but smart in possession to play balls towards speedy attackers.
The more possession based teams like Morvant United, W. Connection, and somewhat North East Stars F.C. didn’t make it all the way through
You agree with that Lasana Roneil Kevin ?
You could be right. That means those ball playing teams can’t play with intensity when required.
Really, Central were head and shoulders above in the league. They massacred Jabloteh in round two when they met. Hope they keep a decent squad for the champions league.
Hearing about financial issues there already and it might reflect badly on pro league again if they are unprepared.
The change in tactics at Central relied on fitness. Let the other team have possession in their own half and pressure them into making mistakes in dangerous areas. You would have seen that the majority of Centrals goals came in the final 30 minutes. Many teams could hold out for an hour, but the intensity finally became too much. Added to that was the conversion of Spanish to defensive midfield where he could begin attacks from deep allowing players like Chucky and de Silva to make forward runs to service Macarno and Joseph. The system was actually based on Bayern Munichs tactics. Not many teams could lose Plaza and Guerra and score more goals! The daily double sessions in January were tough but they achieved the desired results!
UEFA does a comprehensive techincal report of their competitions, inclusive of team tactics and characteristics of successful teams. Does the ProLeague do such Lasana Kevin ? Does the ProLeague even have a technical committee ?
Kirwin it doesn’t.
Okay, DJW was elected on November 29. By then, W Connection played four matches and didn’t win one! All four draws and, apart from Central, against teams you would normally expect to beat–Police, Caledonia and Civic.
So their season was doomed from kick off essentially.
So maybe the election was the distraction? What I liked about this season was there were no really easy teams. Rangers put in some great displays and Eve did superb work. I know they still took some spankings but they were competitive for 60 minutes. Sando were unpredictable and won some great results. Point struggled but you had to prepare properly before you played them. Police couldn’t maintain their first round form and it would be great to discover what changed there. North East became more compact and potent up front due to January signings. Even Caledonia on their small budget won some silverware. I still don’t understand why the league gets so little interest when there is so much competition on the pitch!
I’d agree with that.
I agree i think the first round was more competative every one was fresh the second round is where north east blow it north east problem is in the choice of players the type or players that most clubs run from they accept i as coach before tried to keep away from i wa s going for youths yes but at the same time disciplined
Yes look at the last two games how they finish who was missing? They did not lose players thats was the choice of the coach he could not get what i got from them the jamican he sent back only ball pess was injured an muckette left for Portugal the others was bench or gotten rid of his style of play is much different the 3rd round flatrer to decieve in the muvh crucial games semi fimal lost an the final game lost the indiscipline players was misding Ratty guppy etc
But North East was the second best team in the third round. And, in the second round, they lost so many of their players in the transfer window.
Btw Kirwin Weston, Roland Clarke was the North East Stars coach for the first round.
I’m aware Lasana
I’d agree with “stepping away” being in quotation marks. Connection were outside of the top two before DJW was elected president anyway.
If I remember correctly, Defence Force, Central FC and Police FC were the top three then. Not necessarily in that order.
I think their slip had more to do with their young squad and some administrative issues they seemed to be having in the first half of their season.
I can’t remember exactly but I do know that Connection were still a threat. They won several cups this season, but the league requires an incredible level of consistency. Also, the TTFA election gave DJW a lot of distractions before Xmas.
True. But I think their early magic was in the cups. Will check over early results.
DJW “stepping away” will have affected Connection. It does seem that pro league teams need close attention from the boss. While in most other countries the manager is the boss of all things to do with the game, here a coach doesn’t command the same respect for some reason. The players and staff only seem to respect the man who pays the wages. Without his constant support little cracks start to appear. Being called to the Managers office in UK and Europe is a scary thought indeed.
I agree the coaches don’t get the same respect
It was one of the worst games to sit an watch one wonders what was the plan of coach Ross all his attacking options playing deep in mid field it hurts to see these guys by touch line
Haven’t observe pro league attentively in the last few months – but for Jabloteh to qualify ahead of Connection who had one of their best teams in recent years with Hector & Cyrus returning is fairly impressive
Nicely done by Jabloteh…
Some of these matches really are not kid friendly though…
Why you say that?
Potty mouth language.
Ahhh. Right. Pro League will have to get announcer to remind fans about that.
Players yesterday.
Not unique to here though. You would hear loads of foul chants in the stands at Premiership matches and so on. And surely the same in other leagues.
You can only do so much.
And on the field, the empty stands mean you hear things on the field that you shouldn’t usually hear.