Friday, January 19, 2007

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad: Guadeloupe claimed their second win in the Bobby Sookram Group to earn top spot and advance to play Haiti in the semi final of the Digicel Caribbean Cup.

As in the game previous to this between Guyana and Cuba, the two sides started at a tremendous pace and were not short of desire to continue in this tournament to claim the final spot in the Digicel Caribbean Cup semi finals.

Guadeloupe were to get the dream start as, on 13 minutes, the formidable striker-cum winger Dominique Mocka was at the back post all alone to squeeze his volley inside the post after a delightful cross by Fabien Raddas from the left.

Ten minutes later and Raddas nearly went from provider to scorer when he again attacked down the left hand flank, cut back and let fly across the face of Melvin Andrews' goal. Thankfully for the Vincy Heat his effort was deflected wide of the post for a corner which Raddas himself took. From the resultant cross Guadeloupe captain Vertot was unlucky when he knelt to meet the cross with a delicate flick header only to find SVG keeper Andrews waiting at the back post to save well.

The SVG defence was again called into action on 34 minutes when centre back and skipper Ezra Hendrickson headed Gerald Gavarin’s goal bound effort away from his goal line for a throw.

Into the second half we went and, on 60 minutes, SVG had their best chance of the game when Curtis Joseph played a neat one-two on the edge of the box to get through to a one-on-one situation but blasted his effort wide of the right hand post of Guadeloupe.

The game then took a turn for the worst for SVG on 68 minutes when centre half Wesley Charles who is plying his trade as a full time pro in the League of Ireland with Galway United, was shown a straight red card for a rash challenge on Guadeloupe’s Wilfrid Loiseau.

This started to show only moments later as on 72 minutes Fabien Raddas again attacked the SVG defence and from 20 yards let go a thunderous shot that seemed destined to hit the top corner but for a flying acrobatic save from netminder Melvin Andrews.

Andrews came to the SVG rescue again on 79 minutes when he again made a great save, this time from Bematol Xavier, who must have surely thought his goal-bound shot would have been too hard a hit for Andrews. The keeper, however, showed his worth by touching the fierce shot over the bar and wide for a corner.

Wilfrid Loiseau on as a substitute almost sealed the game when, with 4 minutes remaining, produced another fantastic save by heroic keeper Andrews to force another corner for Guadeloupe and ensure the score remained just one to the advantage of the French West Indies.

That is how it remained, however, and the result was enough for Guadeloupe to claim top spot in this very tight Bobby Sookram group, ensuring an all French semi final between Haiti and the current French colony side on Saturday next January 20 in the Hasely Crawford stadium.

Guadeloupe: Franck Grandel, Kevin Delanney, Alain Vertot, Gerald Gavarin (Wilfrid Loiseau 50’), Dominique Mocka, Fabien Raddas (Constant Theresine 90’), Jocelyn Angloma, J-Luc Lamourde, David Sommeil, Lerry Hanany (Bematol Xavier 77’), Cedric Vanoukia

St Vincent and the Grenadines: Melvin Andrews, Wesley John, Ezra Hendrickson, Wesley Charles, Benford Joseph, Shandel Samuel (Collingham Delves 76’),Sean Glynn (Dexter Browne 46’), Kendall Velox, Andrew Douglas (Curtis Joseph 46’) Darren Francis, Bevan Burgin

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