Jamaica's Jermaine Johnson (right) tries to get by St. Lucia's Tennyson Glasgow during last night's Gold Cup qualifying tournament at the National Stadium. Jamaica won 5-0. - Norman Grindley /Staff Photographer THE REGGAE Boyz last night started their Zone A Caribbean round of the Gold Cup qualifiers with a five-star performance.
With goals from Andy Williams in the ninth minute, Fabian Taylor in the 11th, Cornel Chin-Sue in the 38th, Claude Davis in the 56th and Omar Daley in the 62nd, they hammered St. Lucia 5-0. In the opening game of the double-header, Haiti defeated Martinique 2-1.
Captain Jean Renert Menelas had a double strike in the in the 22nd and 69th minutes while Patrick Percin was on target for Martinique in the fifth minute.
Jamaica's technical director Carl Brown, who has been under pressure following a four-game run at the start of the year in which the team failed to win a match, was not only relieved but satisfied. "I believe the team deserved what they got out there tonight," he said after the game.
"They pressured the team ... they started out well ...t he early goal was the right tonic that we wanted," he said.
"This is the sort of momentum that you need in a tournament like this ... your first game - you want to get out there and do well."
St Lucia's coach Kingsley Armstrong was understandably deflated. "It's not the kind of start that I was hoping for," he said.
The Jamaican team, he said, was "a good bunch". "They did well on the night, you could see that the professionals made a difference. On the night we were really outclassed."
It was a dominant display by the home team which could have won by a wider margin had a number of chances not been wasted. Of the wasted bunch the easiest fell to Charlton Athletic representative Kevin Lisbie who was given a gift by the entertaining substitute Jermaine Johnson.
