Jamaicans crush Dominica

BROOKLYN, New York (CMC):

Defending champions Jamaica swamped a hapless Dominica team 8-1 in the final of three matches Sunday in the New York Caribbean Cup at the Jefferson High School stadium.

Damion Powell and Danny Shaw blasted hat-tricks in Jamaica's complete dominance of the match while Irvino English and Adrian Armstrong converted the other two goals.

Dominica's consolation goal came through a penalty conversion by Nia George six minutes into the second half.

The Jamaicans signaled their early intention five minutes from kick-off when English eluded goalkeeper Elis Christian with a low touch from the right flank.

Blast past Christian

Shaw did the same four minutes later and Powell gave Jamaica a 3-0 lead, with a blast past Christian seven minutes short of the half-time interval.

The Jamaicans continued the rampage in the second half with conversions from Shaw (48th, 70th), Powell (58th, 69th) and Armstrong (60th).

Jamaica head coach Norbert Radjpaul said the margin of victory would have been wider if some of his top players had been available.

"I don't want to disrespect them (Dominica), but they're just not up to it," he said in a post-game interview.

"They were in disarray. Though it was our second-string team, we didn't want to embarrass them further."

Kenny John Charles, the Dominica head coach, blamed his team's poor performance primarily on lack of practice and coordination.

"Players come from different areas, so practice time is really tight on us," he said, disclosing that the Dominica team comprised only four players who resided in Brooklyn.

He said others lived in other cities such as Baltimore, Maryland; Richmond, Virginia; and Toronto, Canada.

putting something together

"The Jamaica team has been playing together for some time and we're just trying to put something together," Charles said.

To date, Dominica have been the 'whipping boys' of the 12-team championship. They lost their opening match on June 8 to Colombia 4-0 and Haiti recorded similar result on June 22.

Jamaica, on the other hand, trounced Barbados 4-0 in their opening game on June 8, but drew 1-1 with Colombia on June 15.