Hydel's scorer Omario Henry
Hydel High will meet Mona High in the final of the ISS/Digicel Manning Cup following a 5-4 penalty shootout win over Kingston College (KC), after both teams played out a 1-1 stalemate in regulation time at Sabina Park on Friday.
Hydel found themselves 2-0 up at halftime, thanks to goals from Keyanni Jackson (3rd) and Omario Henry (23rd), but Kingston College fought back in the second half and managed to force the game into penalties, thanks to strikes from Damaine Smith (51st) and Alex Hislop (70th).
However, Hydel maintained their composure best during the shootout and converted all five 12-yard kicks, while Kingston College’s Kimani Reece had his effort saved by custodian Tajarie Lee, who was a member of the North Street-based team last season.
This will be Hydel’s second ever time contesting the urban area showpiece, following their feat in 2012, while Mona is making their first ever final. It is also the first time since 2016, a school apart from Kingston College, Jamaica College and St George’s College, will be crowned.
The final is set for Saturday December 8 at the National Stadium.
Winning coach Devon Anderson was over the moon about the accomplishment, having previously tried and failed with Holy Trinity.
“Words cannot express my feeling, as one spectator said, ‘coach you have been knocking at the door over the years.’ It is now cracked, and we intend to open it, so this is a joyous day for the Hydel family.
“Not a lot of people gave us a chance, but I believed in the boys, and they believed in what we are trying to do, and it paid off. We know Mona is a very good team, but hydel will come and do what Hydel does, grind very hard,” Anderson said in a post-game interview.
It was a frantic start by Hydel, who made their intentions clear with a few quick warning shots, before they eventually found the target in the third minute. Jackson was allowed too much space to dribble, and he duly obliged by driving home a right-footer from about 20 yards out.
With that being Jackson’s eighth goal of the season, Henry went on the hunt for his and should have had it in the sixth minute when he executed a delightful first touch to a long pass from the back, but the finish lacked the same quality, as it sailed over the crossbar.
But Henry made amends in the 23rd, when he rounded a defender and rifled a right-footer from an angle Malique Williams, in goal for Kingston College.
Sitting pretty on a two-goal lead, Hydel got somewhat complacent on the resumption, and paid for the drop in tempo when a poor clearance found Smith, who drove home a left-footed effort.
And Kingston College pulled level 19 minutes later through Hislop, who picked up a pass and slotted home and it took the dreaded penalty shootout to decide a winner.
Kingston College’s Head coach Vassell Reynolds was pleased with his team’s effort despite the outcome.
“We started a little too slow, which is something we spoke about before and it happened again here and we never recovered quite well, but I am proud of the boys and the way they fought to come back from two goals down and lose on penalty. We still have the semi-finals of Champions Cup, so let us hope we do better there,” Reynolds said.
Sherdon Cowan is a five-time award-winning journalist with 10 years' experience covering sports.
Leganes 0-3 Real Madrid: Mbappe and Bellingham score as Blancos close on Barcelona
Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham were both on target as Real Madrid moved to within four points of LaLiga leaders Barcelona with a 3-0 win at Leganes.
Federico Valverde also scored for Carlo Ancelotti's side, who still have a game in hand on leaders Barca, who were pegged back in a 2-2 draw with Celta Vigo on Saturday.
Mbappe ended a goal drought of over 400 minutes after being teed up by Vinicius Junior shortly before half-time, moments after Leganes had surrendered possession near the edge of their own area.
Madrid dominated possession throughout the second half and doubled their advantage in the 66th minute, Valverde drilling a low effort home from a free-kick won by Bellingham.
Bellingham later got in on the act with a header on the rebound after substitute Brahim Diaz rattled the crossbar, as Madrid cruised to back-to-back league wins.
Data Debrief: Dirty work pays off for Madrid
Mbappe's opener, scored at a vital time shortly before the interval, set Madrid on their way to victory on Sunday.
Eduardo Camavinga and Bellingham both pressed high to help the visitors recover possession in the build-up, and Madrid have now scored five goals resulting from high turnovers in LaLiga this season – the most of any team across Europe's top five leagues.
This was the first time Ancelotti had faced Leganes in LaLiga, and he has now beaten all 28 different opponents he has come up against in the competition.
Napoli 1-0 Roma: Lukaku downs former club on Ranieri's return
Claudio Ranieri's Roma return was spoilt by Romelu Lukaku, whose goal against his old club sealed a 1-0 win for Napoli.
Ranieri was appointed Roma boss over the international break, with the 73-year-old coming out of retirement to take charge of the club for a third time.
Yet it was ex-Roma striker Lukaku who decided Sunday's contest at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, with his 54th-minute effort sending Antonio Conte's team back to the top of Serie A.
Lukaku was well-placed to convert from Giovanni Di Lorenzo's cutback, bringing up his fifth Serie A goal of the campaign.
Roma, who had just two attempts and managed only 0.07 expected goals (xG) in the first half, woke up after Lukaku's goal, with Artem Dovbyk powering a header off the woodwork from a free-kick minutes later, but the visitors' comeback attempts proved fruitless.
Ranieri's next task is to rally his troops for a Europa League clash with Tottenham on Thursday.
Data Debrief: Ranieri's underwhelming return
There was no sign of an immediate upturn for 12th-place Roma, if they were hoping for a new-coach bounce.
Roma ended the first half with fewer than 70 successful passes (68). It is the first time they have had so few successful passes in the opening half of a league game since 2004-05.
With only three wins to their name in the league, they have won fewer than four matches in their opening 13 Serie A games for the first time since the 1978-79 campaign (also three).
And of course, it had to be Lukaku, who was leading their line last season, that delivered the hammer blow. The Belgium international has been involved in nine goals in Serie A this term (five goals, four assists). Only his former Everton club-mate Ademola Lookman, now a star at Atalanta, has contributed to more goals in the competition (seven goals, four assists).
Amorim believes Man Utd were guilty of overthinking in Ipswich draw
Ruben Amorim believes Manchester United were guilty of overthinking as his Premier League managerial bow ended in a 1-1 draw at Ipswich Town.
The Red Devils made a flying start to the Portuguese's tenure as Marcus Rashford netted in only the second minute at Portman Road.
But Omari Hutchinson's deflected equaliser restored parity and Andre Onana had to make a couple of big saves from Liam Delap to ensure Amorim started with a point.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Amorim said: "I think my players were thinking too much during the game, they were thinking not just with the ball, but, 'where am I supposed to be?'
"It is hard because the team has been together only two days, I think we needed more in the first half with the physicality, because they left us one against one up front so we have to use those moments to feel the opponent.
"I think we lost some balls without pressure and when you start a game like this, you score one goal, then you have to control the ball, you have to control the tempo of the game.
"We cannot do it at the moment but they tried, they really, really tried. I know for some guys it's hard to understand this but they're trying and they really want this."
Amorim conceded that United, who are 12th in the Premier League, need to be better in their game management moving forward.
"I think that is a concern because you can understand you don't need to coach them at this level (how) you have to keep the ball, put the momentum in to put the ball up front," he added.
"At the end of the game, we are around the box with two strikers, Josh (Zirkzee) has to understand he has to go to the box to have the crosses, so we are doing things not in the right moment. That is something we have to address.
"Everyone talks about the 3-4-3 – that is not the problem, but the understanding of the game... we have to improve in this area."
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