Clarendon College share a photo opportunity with the Olivier Shield
Marlon Reid/Loop News
For a fourth time in five seasons Clarendon College delayed their ISSA/Wata daCosta Cup celebrations in anticipation of Olivier Shield triumph. And for a fourth time in five seasons the decision was justified, as they reclaimed the badge of all-island supremacy after hammering Mona High 4-0 in the showpiece at the National Stadium on Wednesday.
Much like they did in a rampant display against neighbours Glenmuir High in the rural area decider, Clarendon College again demonstrated their class, seasoned with some individual flair at times, to secure their seventh Olivier Shield lien, with aplomb.
Christopher Hull with a brace in the 84th and 87th minutes, followed goals from the prolific Keheim Dixon (35th) and Deandre Gallimore (69th), and ensured that the title they first won in 1977 — then 1978, 1998, 2018, 2019 and 2022 — returned to their Chapelton base to complement their 11th daCosta Cup hold.
Winning Coach Lenworth “Teacha” Hyde was delighted that his players enjoyed themselves in the process, particularly the seven players, who were in their final schoolboy football season. Clarendon College just missed out on the treble after they lost the Champions Cup 2-3 to Glenmuir.
“I am very happy about it; I think we worked pretty hard this season; the boys wanted it really bad and as I told you before seven of the players are leaving us, so they were hell-bent on defending the Olivier Shield and it showed. They didn’t start out well in the first half but as the game went on the got into rhythm and they enjoyed themselves which is what I told them to do,” Hyde said in a post-game interview.
The much-anticipated clash between two of the most talked about teams this season, started as expected with Manning Cup champions Mona High showing first, as they got a warning shot off 30 seconds in.
Clarendon College gradually got into their rhythm and responded in the seventh minute with a series of chances after Mona failed to clear their lines.
Both teams continued their push for the go-ahead goal, and Mona again went close in the 27th, when a neat build up ended with ended with Kshaine Gordon driving a pass across the six-yard box, but none of his teammates was around to apply the finishing touch.
They rued that missed opportunity eight minutes later when an unmarked Dixon finished a free header at the far post from Gallimore’s weighted corner, for his 32nd goal of the season.
That goal knocked the wind from Mona, and gave life to Clarendon College’s attack, as they applied pressure in a decent passage of play at the backend of the half, but couldn’t get on target.
With the score unchanged at the break, the momentum stuck with Clarendon College and they almost doubled the lead in the 58th when Dixon twirled his way into space for a right-footed shot deep that was charged down at the near post.
Mona responded three minutes later and it took a big save from Clarendon College’s Roshae Burrell to deny Romarion Thomas’s head from close range.
But, any hopes Mona harboured of a comeback, were dashed when Gallimore fired home under pressure, for his seventh of the season.
The Craig Butler-coached Mona didn’t give up though, and Thomas again found space for a right-footer from a distance that was pushed over the crossbar by Burrell.
From there, it was all Clarendon College and Hull, who first rose above Mona’s custodian Ackeem Bernard to head home from a Jahmelle Ashley corner.
And three minutes later, the player sporting the number eight jersey secured a 14th goal for the season, when he struck a sweet left-footer from close range, that proved too much for Bernard, who helped the ball into the net.
Despite the loss, Butler was gracious in defeat.
“It was about not taking the chances and we eventually broke down. But I think the boys played well but Clarendon College was the better team on the day, and so we have to give them their respect for that,” Butler 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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