By Paul-Andre Walker, Staff ReporterJAMAICA'S UNDER-17 footballers turned in a spirited display to eke out a 1-0 win
over Haiti in their second-leg Caribbean Football Union (CFU) age group World Championship qualifier, at Prison Oval yesterday.
The victory, while proving that they could have performed better was too little too late for the Jamaicans as Haiti's first-leg 4-0 win was too much of a deficit for the young team to overhaul and as such, they were eliminated from the competition 1-4 on aggregate.
It made them the fourth Jamaican football team casualty in qualifying competitions following the senior Reggae Boyz last Wednesday, the Under-23 from the Olympic competition and the junior women's team.
Jamaica's only goal came from the head of Dwayne Smith, who later nullified his good work by receiving a second yellow card, leaving the hosts to soldier on with 10 men.
CREDITABLE PERFORMANCE
In truth though, Jamaica's performance, while not littered with the type of football that fans had hoped to see, was a creditable one, bearing in mind the trouncing they had received at the National Stadium.
Jamaica's coach, Jackie Walters, while disappointed at their elimination, said:
"The guys showed some sort of character, coming from four goals to zero. I think it was a good fight today. We got a lot of chances but as I had said it was always going to be difficult under these circumstances."
The chances that Walters spoke about were certainly there, as a matter of fact, had they taken the more clear-cut chances the game may have had to be decided in extra time.
While the first-half was nothing to write home about, the second saw Jamaica squandering chance after chance before their captain slammed a well weighted cross into the box that was met very well by Smith.
After that they continued to waste opportunities galore.
'KEEPER DISMISSED
Jamaica went as far as to dismiss the goalkeeper and still found a way not to score. Smith, who had received a good pass out of midfield ran into the box rounded the 'keeper and with a gaping goal and a plethora of teammates in the box he managed to find the one defender that had made his way to the line in what he must have thought was a futile effort to save his team from falling further behind.
Speaking about his team's performance, head of the Haitian delegation, Antoine Cran, was upset with the refereeing but was happy that his team went ahead.
"Another thing that was going against us was the referee. I am totally dissatisfied but I hope this guy will be on our side some other time. In this second game we didn't play at all. However, we are definitely satisfied. We came here to qualify," said Cran.
