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<span style="font-weight: bold"> OGNR # Football : Boyz aim for ...( Observer )...</span>
FORT-DE-FRANCE, Martinique -- "We came here for five tough games and we have only completed four, so there is one more to go."That's the ominous warning of Jamaica's head coach Theodore Whitmore, as his Reggae Boyz hunt their fifth lien on the Digicel Caribbean Cup when they oppose Guadeloupe in the final here at the Pierre Aliker Stadium at 7:00 pm (6:00 pm Jamaica time) today. WHITMORE... we came here for five tough games and we've only completed four In the third-place play-off three hours earlier, beaten semi-finalists Cuba and Grenada meet at the same venue. The finalists will be vying for US$120,000 first prize and US$70,000 for second place, while the third-place play-off teams will compete for US$50,000 and US$30,000.Jamaica remain the only team in the 2010 Digicel Caribbean Cup tournament with a perfect win record after 3-1, 2-0 and 4-0 triumphs over Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe and Guyana, respectively in the group phase. They then edged Grenada 2-1 in extra time in the semi-finals on Friday, their first game at that venue.The Reggae Boyz have tallied 11 goals from seven players, conceding just two, while Guadeloupe have scored four goals and conceded as many.Whitmore, who seeks his first major title as head coach, believes that in a final any number can play and therefore he is guarding his players against complacency."Confidence is one, but we don't want to be overconfident. We have played the Guadeloupe team before, but now this is a Cup final, so it will be a totally different ball game, but again we are here to do a job and come Sunday we hope to complete the job."The former Reggae Boyz star would also like to win the tournament as a coach, having first won it as a player in 1998."I would be delighted to win it as a player and then to be winning it as a coach, so it is something we are looking forward to as well," he admitted.Whitmore and his technical staff are now sweating over the fitness of a few players and could be without the services of Ryan Johnson, of the San Jose Earthquakes in the US Major League Soccer, after the big striker strained his left hamstring in Friday's game.Doctor Carlton Fraser, who has come in for much credit from both players and technical staff alike, said he was treating Johnson, but there was a good possibility that he would be unfit to play, having entered the tour with back spasms, which could be related to the player's sciatic nerves.There is also a groin problem with Richard Edwards, which forced him out of the game on Friday, but the players seems to be responding well to treatment and the Harbour View battler, who told the Sunday Observer he's "okay", could take the pitch today.The players were spared the pitch yesterday, as Dr Fraser and masseur Pablo Camargo employed ice baths, heat therapy, and they were expected to be 'carb loaded' and supplemented, as well as hydrated with water and fruit juices.This will be their fifth game in nine days.The JFF had also toyed with the idea of appealing the red card Sergio Campbell received, but reconsidered after exploring the challenges associated with the nature of these appeals, the fact that they could be fined US$5,000 if the appeal is considered 'frivolous' or 'irresponsible', and would also be asked to foot the expenses of the appeal.The players were restricted to just a pool session yesterday morning after breakfast.So Whitmore could employ Dwayne Miller in goal, backed by captain Shavar Thomas, Adrian Reid, Jermaine Taylor, Rodolph Austin, Edwards, Shaun Francis, Lovell Palmer, Dane Richards, the tournament's leading goalscorer, Omar Cummings and Luton Shelton.Guadeloupe, another Overseas Department of France, will certainly have the crowd's support today, and their captain Stephane Auvray, who plays alongside Thomas and Kansas City Wizards, declared that Guadeloupe are already winners, so there will be no pressure on them to win the game."Come Sunday the final will be a different game because we have already qualified for the Gold Cup, so the pressure is not the same... we will try to win the Digicel Caribbean Cup," he told journalists shortly after completing a workout on the beach."We know Jamaica is a tough team, but we tried to defend too much (in the group game) and this time we will try to play our game."We have already met our objective, so now it is like bonus, we just trying to go as far as we can and we hope to win and go back to Guadeloupe with the Cup."As the sole French Caribbean team left in the tournament, Auvray is sure the Martinique fans will come out to support them against the tournament favourites, as they did during the semi-finals against Cuba."I think the people will be backing us because they are happy to see a French-Caribbean island up in the final and I think they will be here tomorrow to back us as much as they can and they expect us to win that game."He said his team is motivated, they want to have fun, and if they were to be crowned champions that would be good, but if not, then that would be the nature of football.But for this Cup final, they want to concentrate solely on themselves."I think we don't have to consider Jamaica too much because the first game we played we tried to change our system in function of how Jamaica was playing and I think for this one we have to play our game and forget about the team we are playing against and just try to score goals and win that game."For his part, Troy Smith, who scored his first international goal for Jamaica to book the Boyz's place in today's final, the favourites just have to do the job."It is just a next game, but we need it more than them, so we have to take it," he offered. And considering that the Boyz had threatened to withdraw from the tournament after the first game, then Smith might just be right.http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...60433880666508
<span style="font-weight: bold"> OGNR # Football : Boyz aim for ...( Observer )...</span>
FORT-DE-FRANCE, Martinique -- "We came here for five tough games and we have only completed four, so there is one more to go."That's the ominous warning of Jamaica's head coach Theodore Whitmore, as his Reggae Boyz hunt their fifth lien on the Digicel Caribbean Cup when they oppose Guadeloupe in the final here at the Pierre Aliker Stadium at 7:00 pm (6:00 pm Jamaica time) today. WHITMORE... we came here for five tough games and we've only completed four In the third-place play-off three hours earlier, beaten semi-finalists Cuba and Grenada meet at the same venue. The finalists will be vying for US$120,000 first prize and US$70,000 for second place, while the third-place play-off teams will compete for US$50,000 and US$30,000.Jamaica remain the only team in the 2010 Digicel Caribbean Cup tournament with a perfect win record after 3-1, 2-0 and 4-0 triumphs over Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe and Guyana, respectively in the group phase. They then edged Grenada 2-1 in extra time in the semi-finals on Friday, their first game at that venue.The Reggae Boyz have tallied 11 goals from seven players, conceding just two, while Guadeloupe have scored four goals and conceded as many.Whitmore, who seeks his first major title as head coach, believes that in a final any number can play and therefore he is guarding his players against complacency."Confidence is one, but we don't want to be overconfident. We have played the Guadeloupe team before, but now this is a Cup final, so it will be a totally different ball game, but again we are here to do a job and come Sunday we hope to complete the job."The former Reggae Boyz star would also like to win the tournament as a coach, having first won it as a player in 1998."I would be delighted to win it as a player and then to be winning it as a coach, so it is something we are looking forward to as well," he admitted.Whitmore and his technical staff are now sweating over the fitness of a few players and could be without the services of Ryan Johnson, of the San Jose Earthquakes in the US Major League Soccer, after the big striker strained his left hamstring in Friday's game.Doctor Carlton Fraser, who has come in for much credit from both players and technical staff alike, said he was treating Johnson, but there was a good possibility that he would be unfit to play, having entered the tour with back spasms, which could be related to the player's sciatic nerves.There is also a groin problem with Richard Edwards, which forced him out of the game on Friday, but the players seems to be responding well to treatment and the Harbour View battler, who told the Sunday Observer he's "okay", could take the pitch today.The players were spared the pitch yesterday, as Dr Fraser and masseur Pablo Camargo employed ice baths, heat therapy, and they were expected to be 'carb loaded' and supplemented, as well as hydrated with water and fruit juices.This will be their fifth game in nine days.The JFF had also toyed with the idea of appealing the red card Sergio Campbell received, but reconsidered after exploring the challenges associated with the nature of these appeals, the fact that they could be fined US$5,000 if the appeal is considered 'frivolous' or 'irresponsible', and would also be asked to foot the expenses of the appeal.The players were restricted to just a pool session yesterday morning after breakfast.So Whitmore could employ Dwayne Miller in goal, backed by captain Shavar Thomas, Adrian Reid, Jermaine Taylor, Rodolph Austin, Edwards, Shaun Francis, Lovell Palmer, Dane Richards, the tournament's leading goalscorer, Omar Cummings and Luton Shelton.Guadeloupe, another Overseas Department of France, will certainly have the crowd's support today, and their captain Stephane Auvray, who plays alongside Thomas and Kansas City Wizards, declared that Guadeloupe are already winners, so there will be no pressure on them to win the game."Come Sunday the final will be a different game because we have already qualified for the Gold Cup, so the pressure is not the same... we will try to win the Digicel Caribbean Cup," he told journalists shortly after completing a workout on the beach."We know Jamaica is a tough team, but we tried to defend too much (in the group game) and this time we will try to play our game."We have already met our objective, so now it is like bonus, we just trying to go as far as we can and we hope to win and go back to Guadeloupe with the Cup."As the sole French Caribbean team left in the tournament, Auvray is sure the Martinique fans will come out to support them against the tournament favourites, as they did during the semi-finals against Cuba."I think the people will be backing us because they are happy to see a French-Caribbean island up in the final and I think they will be here tomorrow to back us as much as they can and they expect us to win that game."He said his team is motivated, they want to have fun, and if they were to be crowned champions that would be good, but if not, then that would be the nature of football.But for this Cup final, they want to concentrate solely on themselves."I think we don't have to consider Jamaica too much because the first game we played we tried to change our system in function of how Jamaica was playing and I think for this one we have to play our game and forget about the team we are playing against and just try to score goals and win that game."For his part, Troy Smith, who scored his first international goal for Jamaica to book the Boyz's place in today's final, the favourites just have to do the job."It is just a next game, but we need it more than them, so we have to take it," he offered. And considering that the Boyz had threatened to withdraw from the tournament after the first game, then Smith might just be right.http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...60433880666508