| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Karl |
Posted - Jun 01 2004 : 12:39:50 AM
Boyz stumble 0-2 against Nigeria
We can learn from Nigeria game - Brown
Ian Burnett, Observer staff reporter
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
Davis. foul-up cost Jamaica first goal
London, England - The Jamaicans might have outnumbered their Nigerian supporters by more than three to one inside The Valley, home of Charlton Athletic FC yesterday, but the most important number - goals - were definitely in favour of the West Africans.
Watched by approximately 18,000 spectators including a studious Haitian coach and an American scout, Jamaica's Reggae Boyz suffered their first defeat of the year when they went down, 0-2, to Nigeria in their opening game of the three-nation Unity Cup tournament.
That the first goal was gift-wrapped and gleefully accepted by John Utaka would have been an understatement. And the second, netted by Bartholomew Ogbeche, should never have materialised had a clear foul committed on Ian Goodison been called against Utaka, who made the final pass.
Central defender Claude Davis, whose blunder caused the first goal, was brutally honest in his mea culpa plea at game's end.
"I totally messed up," the Preston North End defender screamed. "The Gaffer (Craig Brown of Preston) always told me never to play the ball inside the middle and that is exactly what I did," lamented Davis, who also accepted blame for the second goal.
"When 'Pepe' (Goodison) slipped, although he was fouled, I should have stayed with my player instead of trying to go over to challenge that striker."
In a bruising opening period, the Reggae Boyz looked comfortable and ahead on points with Bolton Wanderers' Ricardo Gardner, in his first international game this year, leading the charge.
He tested goalkeeper Sunday Rotimi with a fierce low drive in the opening minutes and just after the quarter hour he almost engineered a leading goal for the Boyz.
Sprinting on the blind side, he robbed Yakubu Adamu of the ball and raced to the edge of the penalty area where he fed a sweetly-time pass to an open Kevin Lisbie, a Charlton Athletic striker. But the man who sank Liverpool with a hat-trick this season, hesitated and had his shot blocked.
On 17 minutes, the game changed. Davis, under no pressure in the 18-yard box, fed a casual pass to Utaka, who raced past him to shoot low to Donovan Ricketts' right.
The Boyz, who were matching up well in midfield, lost the plot and surrendered midfield to their opponents, who then created a few chances, with Ogbeche and Utaka going close.
On the stroke of half-time, both teams went close to finding the net. Neither Lisbie nor Micah Hyde could turn home a melee in the box and in a lightning counter-attack, Utaka drilled a right-footer inches wide of the left-hand post.
Technical director Carl Brown was satisfied with the start, but felt that after the soft goal, his players sagged.
"I believe we started how we wanted to. we wanted to be aggressive and even up to the time of the goal, you didn't get any indication that the Nigerians would have scored, but we made a silly mistake and gave away the goal and I thought the team took a nose-dive after that."
The Boyz looked lively at the start of the second half and just after Marlon King's looping shot was handled with some degree of discomfort by Rotimi, the Super Eagles hit on another swift counter.
A ball was played from midfield towar |
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