New Boyz hammer St Martin 12-0

THE NEW face of Jamaica football emerged with a broad smile after walloping St. Martin 12-0 in their Group One Digicel Caribbean Cup football match at the National Stadium last night.

"Scoring 12 goals at any level of international competition augurs well for the team," Jamaica's newly-appointed coach, Wendell Downswell, said.

"What was most important was the tactical discipline that we maintained overall and also ... the shape that we kept when we lost possession," he said.

Luton Shelton hammered a four-timer, scoring at the 17th, 39th, 44th and 52nd minutes, while Roland Dean (second, 11th, 30th) scored a hat-trick and Robert Scarlett (20th, 83rd) hit a wonderful double off his left with swerving shots from outside the penalty box. Jermaine Hue (10th), Khari Stephenson (18th) and Richard West (53rd), who replaced Dean at half-time, added to the dozen.

The netball-like scoreline was pre-empted by Haiti, who delivered an 11-0 thrashing on the US Virgin Islands with a composed performance in the opening clash on the double bill.

NO TEST

As reflected by the scores, the winners hardly got a test from very soft teams that were unable to make a clear scoring chance and would have had a hard time tying any top Under-19 schoolboy football team in this country. And even with two rounds to go in this round-robin series, Jamaica and Haiti are all but certain to take the two qualifying spots for the next phase, a home-and-away knockout series set for December 12 and January 19.

Jamaica's senior team, revamped with Under-20 and Under-23 players and new coach Downswell for its first game since last week's disappointing exit from the 2006 World Cup qualifying tournament, set about extinguishing that anger from the word go with Dean scoring the first of his three goals 68 seconds after the opening whistle.

Soon after, Jermaine Hue made it 2-0 and the floodgates were wide open.

YOUTHFUL SQUAD

The true football lover's six-love margin was posted at the 20th minute; and by the half-time interval, the youthful squad, led by Andy Williams, had pushed the score to a whopping 9-0.

Predictably, the normal sea of wagon gold that generally floods the stadium to over-30,000 capacity levels for matches with the previous Reggae Boyz, drifted back to the 5,000 mark.

It never mattered as the real faithfuls made sure their voices were heard with loud cheers and chants of encouragement for a team that, in return, gave them much to shout about with the constant barrage of goals.

After scoring eight goals in the first half hour, the tempo slowed a great deal over the next two-thirds of the game as the Boyz some times went off rhythm in their eagerness to press quickly for more goals.

In the curtain raiser, the US Virgin Islands (USVI) took the kick-off, made one pass back to their central defender who whacked the ball high upfield to the Haitian defence. Then all stayed behind the ball. It was instructive. They were getting ready for the long haul.

Haiti proceeded to control the game and camped out in their opponents' half with patient offensives that probably brought less goals than they missed.

Louisvens Mesidor (12th, 30th, 48th) led the onslaught with a hat-trick, while Richardson Ulcena (14th, 78th), Mones Chery (39th, 90th) and Dieuphene Thelamour (64th, 87th) each scored a brace. Rudy Lormera (57th) and Saint-Preux Leonel (32nd) were the other scorers.

The competition continues tomorrow with another doubleheader at Jarrett Park where Haiti will play St. Martin in the first game and Jamaica tackle the USVI two hours later in the feature at 7:00 p.m.