Head coach John Barnes (left), his assistant Theodore 'Tappa' Whitmore (right) and members of the winning Jamaica team celebrate with the Digicel Championship trophy after the Reggae Boyz beat Grenada 2-0 in the final at the National Stadium last night. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
Luton Shelton fired in two penalties in both halves to repay the industry of Eric Vernan who was cut down on both occasions in the box, as Jamaica topped the Digicel Caribbean Championship with a 2-0 victory over Grenada in the final at the National Stadium last night.
"I'm delighted. I've to give full credit to the players because all I could do is give instructions and we tried to carry out the instructions to the best of our ability," said Jamaica's head coach John Barnes, rubbing shoulders right at the end of the game with his assistant, Theodore 'Tappa' Whitmore.
Shelton's penalties were scored in the 16th and 69th minutes and handed Jamaica their fourth lien on the regional title, following previous successes in 1991, 1998 and 2005. Jamaica also played in the 1993 finals at the National Stadium, but lost out to Martinique on penalties.
Grenada were losing in the Caribbean football finals for the second time after going down 2-1 to Trinidad and Tobago in 1989. They got US$70,000 for placing second.
Besides the championship trophy, Jamaica earned US$120,000 for first and influential full back Vernan, who also scored two goals in the tournament, won the Most Valuable Player Award for the finals. Shelton ended joint leading scorer with Grenada's Kithson Bain.
Proud moment
Jamaica's captain Tyrone Marshall, who collected the winning trophy from Austin 'Jack' Warner, FIFA's vice-president and president of CONCACAF and the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), said it was a proud moment.
"Coming out of the World Cup disappointed without qualifying for the final stage, we set our goals to qualify for the Gold Cup and win the Digicel tournament. We feel very proud that we could do it on our home soil in front of our home fans."
Probably because of the magnitude of the situation, Jamaica began rather circumspect and showed a lot of respect to their opponents by backing off and allowing the Spice Boys room to play around inside not only their final third, but much of the middle area in the first 10 minutes.
The Grenadians, with dreadlocked midfielder Ricky Charles very much at the centre of their play, did much the same, but despite that non-committal posture, both countries showed great intent to score by unleashing two attempts each at goal inside six minutes.
Shelton and Demar Phillips both shot wide from good positions, while Marcus Julien and Bain replied for Grenada.
As the game drifted towards the quarter-hour though, Jamaica began to establish clear control due to a number of factors. They were more patient, possessed the ball longer and pulled out the Grenadians before piercing them open with decent passes on the ground and over the top, with Shelton, the point man, very involved as both chaser and passer.
Additionally, there was a marked improvement in the pace added by the Reggae Boyz who eventually opened the way to their opening goal in a quick-passing sequence that put the Grenadian defence out of position.
Midfielder Andy Williams delivered the final ball, an incisive cut between central defender and full back to wide-playing Vernan. His first touch across the last defender forced Grenada's captain and sweeper, Anthony Modeste who plays his club football for Digicel Premier League champions Portmore United, to commit and cut him down. Trinidadian referee Neil Brizan pointed to the spot and Shelton completed the formalities by scoring at the 16th minute.
One-sided game
The game got increasingly one-sided for the rest of the first half and there was a constant flow to the Jamaican attacking movement and its creation of goalscoring opportunities.
Williams made the best effort, a shot from 20 yards that custodian Desmond Noel flew to his right to palm wide for a corner kick, but he had a better chance when he was unmarked inside the six-yard box at far post and totally miscued the volley off Demar Phillips' cross.
The second half was a completely different affair. Grenada played with a lot of guts and showed great fighting spirit and threw Jamaica off their game.
The Jamaicans reacted poorly to the pressure by making a lot of bad passes.
Neat dribble
Grenada took the upper hand and pressed Jamaica back, missing a great chance to equalise when top marksman, Bain, rounded the Reggae Boyz defence with a neat dribble that brought him on the other side of goal and almost face to face with Jamaican goalie, Donovan Ricketts.
Bain drove a grounder and Ricketts did well to get down and make a key save.
Grenada continued with the momentum but Jamaica, through their superior quality, were always dangerous and struck again, this time against the run of play when Vernan, dribbling the ball very close to his body, took a pass from substitute Roland Dean and drove into the penalty box where he was brought down by Dwayne Leo.
Shelton, again, scored his and the Reggae Boyz's second goal, as they played scrappily but importantly restricted Grenada to shooting from outside their penalty box to ensure that the lead was not seriously threatened.
In the opening game of the evening, Guadeloupe won third place with a 5-4 penalty shoot-out victory over Cuba.
Reggae Boyz captain Tyrone Marshall raises the Digicel Cup after Jamaica defeated Grenada 2-0 at the National Stadium last night. Sharing in the glory are Jamaica Football Federation boss Captain Horace Burrell (left) and FIFA Vice-President Austin 'Jack' Warner. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer