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Wins the key in Cash Plus Premier League (CPPL)
published: Wednesday | December 19, 2007
GIVEN THE amount of bungling taking place between clubs positioned from second through to 10th in the Cash Plus Premier League (CPPL), first-round champions Portmore United could be said to have opened daylight between themselves and the pack chasing glory in this season's competition.
On 24 points, Portmore, who beat Tivoli Gardens 1-0 in Sunday's end-of-first-round final 1-0 at Harbour View Mini Stadium on Ricardo Cousins' 70th-minute freekick bomber from near 30 yards, lead Tivoli Gardens by six points.
Starting with today's second-round schedule, there are two full rounds of 11 matches remaining and another half with five additional games in, what is essentially, a fourth round. That is a whole heap of matches.
Wins hard to come by
Six points also represent a two-match gap - for Tivoli, that is - and with so much football left, it may seem insignificant.
However, in the context of competitiveness that these teams have contested the first round, that six-point gap on Tivoli, and eight and more for the other teams, is looking more and more like gold, real gold.
For the vast majority of teams, wins have been very hard to come by, and when one looks at the scoring table, it is not surprising, given that when all the sides had completed their 11-match, first-round fixtures, 132 games yielded a mere 154 goals. That works out to an average of 1.167 per match.
In a large way, it speaks to the even footing on which the league has been contested, a factor highlighted by the fact that teams two to 10 are only five points apart.
Tivoli, on 18, are followed by Seba United, Harbour View and Waterhouse on 16, St. Georges 15, Arnett, Boys' Town, Sporting Central Academy all locked on 14, and Reno on 13. August Town on nine and Village, five, bring up the table.
Tired from surge
Portmore, essentially, made this 'huge' advantage by surging in the latter stages with a streak of four victories in an unbeaten five-match run, following their return from the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Championships in Trinidad and Tobago, where they were eliminated at the quarter-final stage by Harbour View.
In the five matches, Portmore made 13 points, prevented only through a draw with Arnett from taking the maximum 15.
The Stars of the East went on to win the CFU Club Championships. However, they have gone the other way since returning, winning once, twice playing to 1-1 draws - against Boys' Town and Arnett - and losing twice to Portmore and Seba, for a tally of five points from their five outstanding games.
The effort utilised in winning the Caribbean title by Harbour View, who played extra matches and even went down to penalties in the final, really took a toll as they appeared jaded - downright tired, especially in its final set of games against Tivoli, Boys' Town and Arnett.
To their credit though, Portmore have established this gap because they have won more matches than any other team - seven.
Tivoli and Seba, with the second-highest number of victories, five, are second and third, respectively.
This shows the real benefits of winning, and from this point onwards, teams will have to make a greater effort to win games if they intend to lift the championship.
The importance of winning is further highlighted in ironic fashion by Seba, who have lost five matches, yet remain third. Only two other teams in the league have lost more matches, August Town and Village, who have been beaten six times each.
Even St. Georges, newcomers from Portland - a parish and eastern confederation with no Premier League tradition except for the St. Ann teams in the late '80s into the '90s - have done well to be sixth. And they, too, have lost a fairly high number of games, three out of 11.
Money, pride at stake
At half-time in their final game, they actually held an end-of-round final spot while leading 1-0, only to be overtaken by a second-half Tivoli hat-trick.
That game was the latest among the preliminary round's 11th schedule. This should not have been so, with a number of teams pushing for a spot in the final. Kick-off for all matches at that stage should have been at the same time.
The straight-league format is motivation enough to win, but the money, and moreso the prestige and pride of place in a final with trophy and bragging rights at stake, are factors that necessitate even the least bit of perceived equity among all contenders.
Waterhouse and Harbour View have actually lost more - four games - but they have managed to maintain a somewhat handy placing because they have registered a decent number of wins too, four.
Guess who lost the least number of games? Portmore. Easy, isn't it?
audley.boyd@gleanerjm.com
published: Wednesday | December 19, 2007
GIVEN THE amount of bungling taking place between clubs positioned from second through to 10th in the Cash Plus Premier League (CPPL), first-round champions Portmore United could be said to have opened daylight between themselves and the pack chasing glory in this season's competition.
On 24 points, Portmore, who beat Tivoli Gardens 1-0 in Sunday's end-of-first-round final 1-0 at Harbour View Mini Stadium on Ricardo Cousins' 70th-minute freekick bomber from near 30 yards, lead Tivoli Gardens by six points.
Starting with today's second-round schedule, there are two full rounds of 11 matches remaining and another half with five additional games in, what is essentially, a fourth round. That is a whole heap of matches.
Wins hard to come by
Six points also represent a two-match gap - for Tivoli, that is - and with so much football left, it may seem insignificant.
However, in the context of competitiveness that these teams have contested the first round, that six-point gap on Tivoli, and eight and more for the other teams, is looking more and more like gold, real gold.
For the vast majority of teams, wins have been very hard to come by, and when one looks at the scoring table, it is not surprising, given that when all the sides had completed their 11-match, first-round fixtures, 132 games yielded a mere 154 goals. That works out to an average of 1.167 per match.
In a large way, it speaks to the even footing on which the league has been contested, a factor highlighted by the fact that teams two to 10 are only five points apart.
Tivoli, on 18, are followed by Seba United, Harbour View and Waterhouse on 16, St. Georges 15, Arnett, Boys' Town, Sporting Central Academy all locked on 14, and Reno on 13. August Town on nine and Village, five, bring up the table.
Tired from surge
Portmore, essentially, made this 'huge' advantage by surging in the latter stages with a streak of four victories in an unbeaten five-match run, following their return from the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Championships in Trinidad and Tobago, where they were eliminated at the quarter-final stage by Harbour View.
In the five matches, Portmore made 13 points, prevented only through a draw with Arnett from taking the maximum 15.
The Stars of the East went on to win the CFU Club Championships. However, they have gone the other way since returning, winning once, twice playing to 1-1 draws - against Boys' Town and Arnett - and losing twice to Portmore and Seba, for a tally of five points from their five outstanding games.
The effort utilised in winning the Caribbean title by Harbour View, who played extra matches and even went down to penalties in the final, really took a toll as they appeared jaded - downright tired, especially in its final set of games against Tivoli, Boys' Town and Arnett.
To their credit though, Portmore have established this gap because they have won more matches than any other team - seven.
Tivoli and Seba, with the second-highest number of victories, five, are second and third, respectively.
This shows the real benefits of winning, and from this point onwards, teams will have to make a greater effort to win games if they intend to lift the championship.
The importance of winning is further highlighted in ironic fashion by Seba, who have lost five matches, yet remain third. Only two other teams in the league have lost more matches, August Town and Village, who have been beaten six times each.
Even St. Georges, newcomers from Portland - a parish and eastern confederation with no Premier League tradition except for the St. Ann teams in the late '80s into the '90s - have done well to be sixth. And they, too, have lost a fairly high number of games, three out of 11.
Money, pride at stake
At half-time in their final game, they actually held an end-of-round final spot while leading 1-0, only to be overtaken by a second-half Tivoli hat-trick.
That game was the latest among the preliminary round's 11th schedule. This should not have been so, with a number of teams pushing for a spot in the final. Kick-off for all matches at that stage should have been at the same time.
The straight-league format is motivation enough to win, but the money, and moreso the prestige and pride of place in a final with trophy and bragging rights at stake, are factors that necessitate even the least bit of perceived equity among all contenders.
Waterhouse and Harbour View have actually lost more - four games - but they have managed to maintain a somewhat handy placing because they have registered a decent number of wins too, four.
Guess who lost the least number of games? Portmore. Easy, isn't it?
audley.boyd@gleanerjm.com