Dinthill Technical will have the distinction of being the only team in the 2022 daCosta Cup to advance to the next round on the back of a perfect group stage record thanks to a 4-0 home victory over McGrath High on Friday.
With 30 points from 10 games, Dinthill can celebrate their progression to the next round as winners of Zone K. McGrath ended with 21 points and will advance alongside Dinthill while Charlemont finished two points behind McGrath in third.
Frome Technical and Rusea’s will advance from Zone B. Frome won the zone with 22 points from eight games while Rusea’s finished three points behind them in second. The teams played out a 0-0 draw at Frome on Saturday.
William Knibb hammered Herbert Morrison 10-0 at home on Saturday to confirm their progression as Zone C winners with 22 points from eight games. Cedric Titus finished second with 16 points from eight games despite a 0-2 home loss against Spot Valley, who finished five points behind in third.
Manning’s and Petersfield played out a 0-0 draw on Saturday and will both advance from Zone D. Manning’s amassed 24 points from their 10 games to advance as zone winners while Petersfield ended their preliminary round campaign with 20 points from 10 outings.
STETHS finished the preliminary round with nine wins and one loss to finish with 27 points and win Zone E. Their final game saw them beat Munro College 2-0 at home on Saturday. B.B Coke, who entered their last game needing a win to confirm their passage to the next round, beat Maggotty 3-1 to secure their spot with 19 points, three more than Munro in third, from their 10 games.
Manchester secured their spot as Zone F winners with a 2-1 win over DeCarteret College at Kirkvine on Saturday. They ended with 25 points from their 10 games. Belair High will also advance after a 4-0 away win over Mt. St. Joseph, leaving them three points behind the leaders and three ahead of DeCarteret in third.
Zone G was extremely close as Christiana and Holmwood both finished with 15 points, one point ahead of Mile Gully in third. Christiana entered a Friday clash with Holmwood three points behind their opponents and got a 2-1 home win to end up as zone winners by two on goal difference.
Clarendon College and Edwin Allen played out a 1-1 draw at Edwin Allen on Saturday as both confirmed their progression from Zone H. Clarendon College won the zone with 22 points from eight games while Edwin Allen ended seven points behind their opponents in second.
York Castle was already confirmed as Zone I winners before a 5-1 win over Marcus Garvey at Drax Hall on Thursday. They ended the group stage with 22 points from eight games. Browns Town entered their game with Ocho Rios on Thursday needing a point to join York Castle in the next round and got it thanks to a goalless draw. They finished with 12 points, one more than Oracabessa in third.
Zone J was the closest as the top four teams all ended up within two points of each other. Tacky won the zone with 17 points while St. Mary Tech had the same number of points in second, trailing by three on goal difference. Horace Clarke finished a point behind them while Annotto Bay ended two points adrift. Saturday saw Tacky and Horace Clarke play out a 1-1 draw at Horace Clarke while St. Mary Tech beat Wycliffe Martin 2-0 at Wycliffe Martin and Annotto Bay beat St. Mary High 1-0 at the Highgate Community Center.
Paul Bogle finished with 24 points from 10 games to win Zone L after a 2-1 away win over Yallahs on Thursday. They will be joined in the next round by Seaforth who ended with 21 points after a 6-1 win over St. Thomas Technical at the Eastern Banana Complex, also on Thursday.
Glenmuir beat Central High 2-0 at home on Saturday to confirm their status as winners of Zone M, finishing with 19 points. Central ended up second, three points behind Glenmuir while Denbigh ended u a distant third with 10 points after a 2-1 win over Old Harbour at the Port Esquivel Sports Club.
Defending champions Garvey Maceo will advance as Zone N winners after a 3-0 home win over Winston Jones on Saturday. They ended up with 22 points from their eight games, six points more than second-placed Vere Technical who booked their spot in the next round with a 5-0 home win over Foga Road.
Happy Grove and Titchfield both ended with 12 points from six games to advance from Zone O. Happy Grove won the zone by two on goal difference thanks to a 4-1 win over Fair Prospect at Fair Prospect while Titchfield got a 2-0 win over Port Antonio at Carder Park.
Portugal 2-1 Scotland: Ronaldo's late heroics seal comeback win
Cristiano Ronaldo came off the bench to score the winner as Portugal earned a 2-1 victory, condemning Scotland to another late defeat.
The 39-year-old, who started on the bench in a competitive match for the first time since the 2022 World Cup, added to Bruno Fernandes' strike after Scott McTominay had given Scotland the lead early on.
The home crowd were just as stunned as Portugal's defence when McTominay snuck in behind, thumping Kenny McLean's cross past a stranded Diogo Costa after just seven minutes.
The hosts certainly had their chances to get back into the game though – Angus Gunn made a brilliant save to deny Rafael Leao, who also fired a number of efforts wide of the left post.
Though Scotland tried to continue soaking up the pressure, their defence was eventually breached nine minutes after the break, with Fernandes marking his 30th birthday with a sweeping finish from 20 yards out.
Gunn smothered Joao Felix's low shot in the 78th minute before Ronaldo came within millimetres of a winner as his header hit the inside of the far post.
But Ronaldo would have the final say as he stretched out a leg in the six-yard box to turn Nuno Mendes' cross into the back of the net.
Data Debrief: Ronaldo the hero once again
Steve Clarke could not have asked for more from his team in the first half, as they scored with their only effort, but also resolutely defended as Portugal racked up 16 shots (three on target), creating 1.21 expected goals (xG).
It was a regular creator that got the Selecao back on level terms though, as Fernandes got his 21st goal involvement under Roberto Martinez in all competitions, at least five more than any other Portugal player (11 goals, 10 assists).
And Ronaldo is now up to 901 career goals, with only Aleksandar Mitrovic (14), Erling Haaland (12) and Romelu Lukaku (10) bettering his nine-goal tally in the Nations League.
Switzerland 1-4 Spain: Fabian brace leads 10-man La Roja to victory
Fabian Ruiz’s double helped 10-man Spain claim a comprehensive 4-1 win over Switzerland in the Nations League on a rainy night in Geneva.
Joselu opened the scoring after just four minutes as he latched onto the end of Lamine Yamal’s pinpoint cross to flick goalwards.
The goal was confirmed after some controversy as Swiss goalkeeper Gregor Kobel thought he had clawed it away before it crossed the line.
Switzerland thought they had an immediate response three minutes later but Becir Omeragic had a goal ruled out for a handball in the build-up. Instead, Spain doubled their lead on 12 minutes as Fabian powered home the rebound from Nico Williams’ parried shot.
The Swiss were handed a lifeline as Robin Le Normand was shown a straight red for bringing Breel Embolo down as he went through on goal, and Zeki Amdouni rattled the crossbar from the resultant free-kick.
Amdouni did find the net to bring scores level just before half-time, sweeping home Embolo’s flick-on from a corner after finding himself unmarked at the back post. He nearly had a brace after the restart, but it was ruled out for a foul in the build-up.
Instead, it was Fabian with two goals to his name by the final whistle, after he tucked away at the far post in the 77th minute against the run of play before Ferran Torres added further gloss.
Data Debrief: Spain's run rolls on
The writing was on the wall early for Switzerland who have not won any of their last eight matches after conceding first in the Nations League. Spain, on the other hand, are undefeated in their last five matches when they have scored first in the competition.
It means, excluding friendlies, Spain are now unbeaten for 17 matches in all competitions (W15 D2). It is their best unbeaten run under a single manager since Vicente del Bosque was in charge in June 2013.
Italy boss Spalletti expects to make five changes for Israel match
Luciano Spalletti is expecting to make up to five changes for Italy's Nations League clash with Israel owing to the tight turnaround between matches.
Italy produced a shock 3-1 victory over France on Friday, just three days before they face Israel in Hungary.
But their opening three points in Group A2 took their toll, with starters Riccardo Calafiori and Lorenzo Pellegrini both leaving the squad after sustaining injuries in the match against France.
As such, Spalletti feels it is necessary to rotate for their upcoming match.
"It's difficult to put the same team out as Friday. It's not possible to get over the fatigue after just two days. Let's see how the guys are, but it's not unusual to change three, four, five players," the Italy boss told the press.
Some players, however, will have to play due to the injuries sustained in that victory, which saw them register their first win against France since June 2008.
"Bastoni will play tomorrow because it becomes tricky taking both him and Calafiori out of the team. He has the most experience, he brings things to the table that can help the whole team," Spalletti added.
"Frattesi will be evaluated in today's training, but he says he is fine and good to go. He was substituted earlier than planned, to avoid any unnecessary dangers. We need to see after a bit of training."
Italy play Israel in the Nations League on Monday at the Bozsik Arena in Hungary.
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