Sport

Reggae Boyz in Gold Cup

file - Luton Shelton

THE ADAGE, AN ugly win is better than a pretty loss, must have been uppermost in the minds of Jamaica's Reggae Boyz last night.
They laboured to an uninspiring 1-0 victory over 10-man Barbados in the finals of the Digicel Cup inside the Barbados National Stadium to clinch a spot in the prestigious CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament in July.

The all-important goal came from the boot of captain Andy Williams after just seven minutes of play.

The alert American-based midfielder slammed into an empty net after the Barbadian team, in bizarre fashion, stopped playing as they thought the referee had made an offside call. The goal was Williams' second of the finals. On Sunday he had scored with a brilliant header as Jamaica clipped Trinidad and Tobago 2-1.

Big showdown

The stage is now set for a big showdown tomorrow for the US$100,000 top prize between Jamaica and Cuba, the two unbeaten teams in the tournament. Both teams are on six points but the Cubans, with a superior goal difference (five goals for and one against to Jamaica's three for and one against) need just a draw to pocket the top prize.

Cuba, yesterday, followed up their 3-0 blanking of Barbados on Sunday with a 2-1 win over Trinidad and Tobago. The result left the 'Soca Warriors', the Caribbean's only representative in the six-team CONCACAF World Cup final round, in disarray. They must now beat Barbados in tomorrow's final round of matches to grab the third and final qualifying spot for the Gold Cup.

Jamaica appeared content to eke out victory by the slimmest of margins last night as they failed to duplicate the intensity they showed in getting past Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday.

The only two bright spots for Jamaica last night were outstanding goalkeeping from Shawn Sawyers who kept out the Barbadians as they pushed hard for a point late in the game and the tireless running of forwards Luton Shelton and Roland Dean.

The hosts were consistently worried by the pace and skill of the Jamaican frontmen and it was possibly out of frustration that the Barbadian captain John Parris committed a foul on Shelton and was sent off in the 54th minute.