Hot Haiti crush St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter

HAITI OPENED their Digicel Caribbean Cup Group D campaign in convincing fashion when they blasted their way past St. Vincent and the Grenadines 4-0 at the National Stadium last night.

In the night cap, hosts and defending champions Jamaica were in action against St. Lucia (see full report in tomorrow's Gleaner).

"Haiti was just better than us today. I think we matched up pretty well in the first half but we had a bit of bad luck in the second half and after the second goal the game was pretty much over," was the assessment of St. Vincent and the Grenadines coach Vranes Zoran.

"Tactically, I think we had prepared well for Haiti. However, the players just were not able to execute, we just were not good enough today," he said.

Split open defence

Josue Mayard put the Haitians ahead in the 18th minute and striker Jean-Baptiste Fritzon, who constantly proved a thorn for the St. Vincent backline, put them farther ahead in the 54th.

The wily frontman did well to create space for himself after receiving a pass from Jamil Jean Jacques before blasting into the back of the net 10 metres away from goal.

Defender Jean-Jacques Pierre, totally unmarked in the area by a crestfallen St. Vincent team, powerfully headed home another goal for the surging Haitians in the 79th minute before Marc Herold Gracien added salt to their wounds with a strike two minutes into time added on.

"We are quite pleased with this result. We came here to win today, they were tough tactically in the first half, but we managed to break them down in the second," said Haitian coach Carlo Marcelin.

"We had a couple of new players in the squad and I think it was difficult at first but we adjusted well," he said.