Glenmuir's Head coach Andrew Peart (left) and Lenworth Hyde of Clarendon College.
It will be an all-Clarendon showdown to decide this year’s ISSA/Wata daCosta Cup champions, as reigning champions Clarendon College and Glenmuir High booked their spot in the final with penalty shootout victories over Garvey Maceo and Dinthill Technical in their respective semi-finals encounter on Saturday.
Clarendon College stopped Garvey Maceo 4-3 on penalties, after they played out a 1-1 stalemate in regulation time at Glenmuir High, to not only extended their unbeaten run, but also remain on course to secure the coveted triple.
Captain Malachi Douglas gave Clarendon College a 45+7-minute lead from the penalty spot, but Cleo Clarke (75th) responded for Garvey Maceo with a penalty conversion of his own to send the game to the dreaded shootout.
There, Douglas, Keheim Dixon, Theon Cupee and Christopher Hull, all converted for Clarendon College, while the Chapelton-based substitute goalkeeper Lydel Rodney, denied Clarke and Omarion O’Brian hit his effort wide.
Meanwhile, Glenmuir defeated Dinthill Technical 4-2 on penalties after they played out a goalless stalemate in their contest at Manchester High.
Glenmuir, like Clarendon College is also on course of the treble, and both will be looking to go a step further when they contest their respective semi-finals of the ISSA Champions Cup all-island knockout tournament against Hydel and Kingston College, on Tuesday.
With that in mind, Clarendon College’s Head coach Lenworth “Teacha” Hyde is not only excited about the prospects, but also focused on keeping his players fit and healthy.
“We have been kicking penalties from about three or four months ago and this goalkeeper [Rodney] saved a lot in training and so we decided to put him in and it paid off,” Hyde said in a post-game interview.
“It will be a good matchup against Glenmuir, they are a ball playing team so I love playing against them, so we just have to go and prepare for that. But Tuesday is another crucial game against Hydel, so we are looking forward to getting the players rested, replenished and ready for Tuesday’s game,” he added.
It was a cagey start to the contest by Clarendon College’s standard, but they gradually came into their own after a brief break to facilitate a kit change.
They went close to break the deal in the 18th when Deandre Gallimore’s header came off the upright, and Christopher Maxwell, in goal for Garvey Maceo, denied Hull on the rebound.
Two minute later Dixon’s shot from close range was kept out by Maxwell’s reflex save diving to his right.
Clarendon College eventually broke the deadlock through Douglas, who picked himself up and converted a penalty for his 16th goal of the season, after he was felled inside the area.
Garvey Maceo came out probing on the resumption and almost pulled level six minutes in when Clarke’s well-struck left-footed freekick had Roshae Burrell, who started in goal for Clarendon College, beaten but the effort came back off the crossbar.
Clarke was at it again four minutes later, as he charged into the box and drove a right-footer that was kept out by Burrell, who got down well in time at his near post.
Garvey Maceo’s press inevitably saw them back on level terms when Clarke converted from the 12-yard spot, after O’Brian was felled inside the red zone.
Clarke’s 23rd goal of the season injected some tempo in Garvey Maceo’s charge, as they pushed for the winner, while Clarendon College replaced Burrell with Rodney in anticipation of penalties, and they moved proved fruitful.
Garvey Maceo’s Head coach took heart from his team’s campaign.
“We planned for them, and I think we did really well tactically. The team stuck to the task right through and I think this game was fitting of a final. But hats off to coach Lenny and Clarendon College, and congratulations to my boys because when we started the season no one expected us to do so well,” Gordon said.
Sherdon Cowan is a five-time award-winning journalist with 10 years' experience covering sports.
Kane gunning for Lewandowski's single-season Bundesliga goal record
Harry Kane has his eyes set on Robert Lewandowski's single-season Bundesliga goal record after scoring twice in Bayern Munich's 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt, though he knows he needs "to get a move on".
Kane scored in both halves on Saturday to take his tally to 42 goals this season across all competitions, also reaching the 400-goal mark at senior level for clubs and country.
The striker scored 280 of those goals for Tottenham, holding the honour of being the club's all-time leading scorer, while he is also the most prolific player in England history with 62 goals for the Three Lions.
With 35 goals in 31 Bundesliga appearances this season, Kane now has his eyes set on another piece of history.
Former Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski holds the record for the most goals scored in a single Bundesliga campaign, netting 41 times in 2020-21.
Asked about the possibility of breaking that record with just three games remaining in Bayern's league campaign, Kane said: "It's possible, but obviously I have to get a move on!
"I've got to maybe score a few goals next week. It's there, it's in touching distance.
"It depends on the last few games of course, but it was nice to add to it today and score a couple of goals to help the team."
Bayern next host Real Madrid in the first leg of a Champions League semi-final tie on Tuesday, before travelling to face Stuttgart on Saturday.
Pochettino says VAR 'damaging' English football as Chelsea denied Villa win
Mauricio Pochettino claimed VAR is "damaging" English football after Chelsea saw a potential winning goal chalked off at the end of their 2-2 Premier League draw with Aston Villa.
Despite a bright performance, Chelsea found themselves 2-0 down at half-time on Saturday with Marc Cucurella putting through his own net before Morgan Rogers added Villa's second.
Goals from Noni Madueke and Conor Gallagher dragged Chelsea level as they penned Villa back after the break, but the Blues were enraged in stoppage time when Axel Disasi saw a potential winner ruled out.
Disasi headed home in the fifth minute of stoppage time to spark wild celebrations among the visiting Chelsea fans, only for referee Craig Pawson to disallow the goal following a pitchside VAR review, ruling Benoit Badiashile pushed Diego Carlos in the build-up.
With that incident coming just one week after Chelsea were denied a penalty in their FA Cup semi-final loss to Manchester City despite Jack Grealish appearing to handle Cole Palmer's free-kick, Pochettino has had enough.
"Everyone that was watching the game will feel disappointed. The referee said it was a foul and disallowed the goal after going to the VAR to confirm," he told TNT Sports.
"The referee is unbelievable and it's ridiculous. It is difficult to accept these types of things. In the semi-final it was handball and it was no penalty, the referee didn't check it.
"It is painful as it has damaged English football and I think Villa players and their fans didn't understand why the goal was disallowed.
"They said it was a foul and if you see the challenge… if we go into every single challenge like this and it is going to be a foul, we wouldn't finish the game with 11 players.
"We can talk about the performance or the decision – it is damaging the game."
Pochettino had no complaints about Chelsea's performance, though, as they avoided defeat for just the fourth time in 51 Premier League games when trailing by two or more goals at half-time.
The Blues previously achieved that feat in a 3-3 draw with Sheffield Wednesday in 1992, a memorable 2-2 draw with Tottenham in 2016 and another 3-3 draw with West Brom in 2020.
Chelsea racked up 21 shots to Villa's nine and put up 1.57 expected goals (xG) to the hosts' 1.1, with Nicolas Jackson and Palmer spurning glorious chances in either half.
"The performance was very good," Pochettino said. "We played really well and it is true in the first half we conceded too easily.
"To play Villa, who are fighting for the top four, I am pleased with the team. Now, we have to move on and the headlines will be about the disallowed goal."
New England Revolution 1-4 Inter Miami: Messi at the double as Herons run riot
Lionel Messi scored twice and laid on a goal for Luis Suarez as Inter Miami retained their three-point lead at the Eastern Conference summit with a 4-1 win over the New England Revolution.
A franchise-record crowd of 65,612 people witnessed a flying start from the Revs as they took the lead within just 37 seconds at Gillette Stadium. Carles Gil pounced on some sloppy play from Miami to tee up Tomas Chancalay, who lobbed Drake Callender for the opener.
However, Miami roared back with Messi leading from the front. They had a deserved equaliser just after the half-hour mark, Messi slotting home after latching onto Robert Taylor's throughball.
Messi had his second after 67 minutes, producing another composed finish after former Barcelona team-mate Sergio Busquets split the New England backline.
Messi was involved in another two goals as Miami added some gloss to the scoreline late on; his first-time shot was saved by Henrich Ravas but Benjamin Cremaschi was on hand to score on the rebound after 83 minutes, then the Argentine teed up Suarez for a curled finish five minutes later.
Miami stay three points clear of Supporters' Shield holders FC Cincinnati at the top of the East, with the Orange and Blue keeping pace by beating the Colorado Rapids 2-1 on Saturday.
Data Debrief: Messi rolls back the years
Ahead of Saturday's game, some feared Miami boss Gerardo Martino would opt to rest Messi after speaking of the risks of fielding the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner on New England's artificial pitch.
However, Messi came through 90 minutes with another mesmerising performance. He has now recorded a goal involvement in 10 straight club matches for the seventh time in his glittering career, last doing so for Barcelona between September and December in 2018.
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