Jamaica’s U-14 Footballers Dominate CFU Series
Jamaica’s young Reggae Boyz produced a truly phenomenal display to capture the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Under-14 Tier 1 title. They capped off a phenomenal showing in the tournament with a dominant 7-1 victory over French Guiana on Sunday at the Dwight Yorke Stadium.
The game started with a very different scoreline than how it ended with the Jamaicans going down 1 nil in the 20th minute through a brilliant strike from outside the box from French Guaina’s Matheo Francois. As the half-time mark approached, coach Andrew Peart and his team were unable to find an equaliser.
Despite coming into the second half a goal down, the Reggae Bozy came out a different team for the last 45, as it took them just 5 minutes after the break to find the back of the net courtesy of leading goal scorer Kelvin Brown.
This equaliser started a route for the Jamaicans, with Brown subsequently being helped out by his teammate, Carlondo Morris, who bagged a hat-trick as the young Reggae Boyz stormed back from their half-time deficit to trump a hapless French Guiana team.
Morris put Jamaica ahead in the 52nd minute with a sweetly timed left-foot volley after a cross from Kyle Hussey on the left wing, then Brown provided the third goal with a delightful chip over goalkeeper Hugo Sante in the 54th minute. Morris copied him with another chip in the 58th minute before completing his hat-trick with another left-footed gem in the 61st minute to make the score 5-1. Second-half substitutes Samuel Taylor and Jaedon Brown-Hanniford later added the other two goals for Jamaica in the 63rd and 68th minutes to complete the emphatic scoreline.
With such a captivating performance not only in the match but all tournament, it was no surprise that the team also dominated the individual awards, with Marcodean Spence being named best goalkeeper, Brown winning the award for top goal scorer, and Davion Clarke taking home the trophy for the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
Peart commended his title-winning team after the game on their efforts, saying the players were “brave” in their style of play as they executed as he and his coaching staff instructed.
“For the overall team performance, I must commend the players’ ability to display on the field the ideas that we had brought across to them in how we want them to play, and I think it was really good of them to actually be brave all the time and try to play a certain way. From that aspect, we’re very pleased, and of course being champions is rewarding in its own right,” said coach Peart.
The team was also congratulated by the president of the Jamaica Football Federation, Michael Ricketts, in a press release on Monday.
“I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to our National U-14 team for their performances in the recently concluded CFU U-14 Challenger Series in Trinidad and Tobago. I would like to commend the players for their grit and determination and work rate as they played 6 matches in just over a week.” He continued: “I would also like to congratulate Coach Andrew Peart and his staff for their hard work in preparing the team for the tournament and I am so delighted that it has paid off and it is a good feeling knowing that we will be returning to Jamaica with a trophy.”