Kingston College
McNamee Sports Media
Former champions Kingston College produced a five-star performance to open the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Digicel Manning Cup quarterfinal round in commanding fashion as they blanked Tivoli High 5-0, while reigning champions Mona High and Jamaica College played out a 1-1 stalemate in the Group A double-header at Stadium East on Friday.
A brace from Damaine Smith (3rd and 19th) and one each from Matrim Martin (32nd), Kamaul Patterson (45+3) and Deshawn Byfield (51st) got the job done for Kingston College in the lopsided feature contest.
Meanwhile in the curtain-raiser, Sean Leighton’s 35th-minute strike for Mona High was cancelled out by Jamaica College’s captain Dyllan John, who converted a 65th-minute penalty to secure his team a share of the spoils.
With the result, Kingston College took command of the group on three points, while Jamaica College and Mona trail with a point each. Tivoli will have to play catch up from the foot of the four-team standing.
Kingston College were always favoured to take three points off Tivoli High, and they did so with consummate ease in what was a showcase of their offensive prowess and defensive strength as they overwhelmed the opponents from start to finish.
The famed purples wasted little time to break the deadlock as Smith got on the end of a weighted pass and easily fired past Daniel Bailey in goal for Tivoli High.
Their precise passing and tactical awareness kept Tivoli on the back foot, and it was another of those passes from the back that sent Smith on his way to complete his brace with another simple finish.
That brace set the tone for what would be a long and arduous game for Tivoli High, who soon found themselves 3-0 down when Shareef Ricketts’ weighted corner kick picked out Martin at the far post and the Guyanese made no mistakes from goalmouth.
Struggling to find any answer to the waves of attacks that Kingston College unleashed, the West Kingston team were left visibly demoralized as another weighted freekick from Ricketts eluded defenders and Patterson capitalised at the far post to make it 4-0 at the break.
The second half saw no reprieve for Tivoli High, as Kingston College continued to drive forward with confidence and added to their tally six minutes in when Byfield fired home after Smith’s effort burst through the hands of the hapless Bailey.
Tivoli High tried to play their game when Kingston College eased up a bit, but their offensive efforts were always easily thwarted by the North Street-based team’s backline long before they posed any real threat.
Kingston College’s Head coach, Vassell Reynolds, praised his players for their discipline and focus.
“We really wanted to get three points today because that put us in good stead to push on for the remainder of this round, and I thought the boys responded well and did pretty well. So I am pretty satisfied with our conversion rate and the overall performance,” Vassell said in a post-game interview.
Tivoli’s assistant coach, Lance DaCosta, believes a lapse in concentration resulted in the loss but backed his team to bounce back against Mona and Jamaica College.
“I think we struggled defensively; we made too many errors, and they cost us. At this stage we should be more mature and more focused, but we just have to motivate them and try to win our next two games to advance,” he said.
Earlier in what was one of the season’s most anticipated clashes, Mona forced the initiative and camped out in Jamaica College’s quarters in the early exchanges. They took a few cracks at target, which tested Taywane Lynch, but the Jamaica College custodian proved equal to the task on each occasion.
Jamaica College eventually found their footing in attack and thought they had the go-ahead goal in the 28th when Giovanni Taylor fired home from close range, but it was controversially called back for an offside.
Mona eventually grabbed the ascendancy when Leighton finished his fifth goal of the season with aplomb after Robino Gordon’s effort was saved to make it 1-0 at the break.
However, Jamaica College pulled level five minutes past the hour mark when John fired home from the 12-yard spot after being awarded a controversial penalty.
Friday’s results
Mona 1, Jamaica College 1
Kingston College 5, Tivoli High 0
St Catherine 3, Campion College 0
Hydel vs Excelsior (Postponed)
Sherdon Cowan is a five-time award-winning journalist with 10 years' experience covering sports.
No rest for influential Raphinha, says Barcelona boss Flick
Hansi Flick is unlikely to rest Raphinha for Barcelona's LaLiga match at Real Betis on Saturday.
Flick opted to rest LaLiga top-scorer Robert Lewandowski, who had started 20 straight matches in all competitions, for Barcelona's 5-1 victory at Mallorca in midweek.
Raphinha scored twice in that match, taking his tally of LaLiga goal contributions for the season to 17, a joint-league high alongside Lewandowski.
The former Leeds United attacker has been crucial to Barca's form under Flick, and the former Germany coach claimed Raphinha is a player he cannot afford to rotate.
Flick told reporters: "We need Rapha. When he is available, he will play.
"If he's ready for 90 minutes, then he'll play 90 minutes. So is Lewandowski, who will also play tomorrow."
Barca, who top the LaLiga standings with 37 points, snapped a three-game winless run in the league with the victory over Mallorca.
The Blaugrana will be looking to continue their momentum and face 10th-placed Betis, who are winless in their last four league matches.
"Betis are a very good team, with very experienced players. They are always capable of pressing high up the pitch, that's their style and we have to be careful," Flick said.
"They know how to play and we have to be focused. Manuel [Pellegrini] is a very experienced coach, his teams always play very good football.
"His style is very good, his teams like to have the ball. It's not easy for opponents to play against him."
Betis coach Pellegrini is set to take charge of his 500th game in LaLiga.
The Chilean will become the eighth coach to hit that milestone in the competition.
His teams have scored 762 goals, conceding 592. Pellegrini has won 239 matches, losing 138 and drawing 122.
Across his LaLiga coaching tenure, Pellegrini has recorded a 47.9% win ratio. His best win percentage came at Real Madrid, where he won 81.6% of his matches (31 wins out of 38 games).
However, he has lost 19 LaLiga matches against Barca, suffering more defeats against them than he has any other club.
Motta handed injury boost with Vlahovic available for Bologna clash
Dusan Vlahovic will be available for Juventus' Serie A clash against Bologna on Saturday, said Thiago Motta, before facing his former employers for the first time.
Vlahovic has missed Juventus' last three games in all competitions after picking up a muscle problem in his left thigh during November's international break.
He is Juventus' top scorer in Serie A this season with six goals, and he will be keen to add to that total against one of his favoured opponents in the Italian top-flight.
The Serbian has scored six goals against Bologna in 10 appearances for former club Fiorentina and Juventus, only scoring more against Cagliari (seven).
"Dusan will be in the group tomorrow. He has trained with the team this week," Motta told a press conference on Friday.
"We are happy with his return, that he can do what he likes. It's his job to go on the pitch and play football.
"Tomorrow there will be Dusan and there will also be (midfielder Vasilije) Adzic, and (defender Nicolo) Savona will also return, who was missing from the last match."
Motta, however, will be without Gleison Bremer, Juan Cabal, Nico Gonzalez, Douglas Luiz, Arkadiusz Milik and Weston McKennie for Saturday's encounter.
The Juventus head coach is preparing to face former club Bologna for the first time since departing in June.
During his first full season in charge, Motta guided Bologna to a Champions League berth for the first time since 1964-65, while also achieving a new record points tally in Serie A (68) for the Rossoblu.
"Bologna are doing well and are a great team," Motta said. "(But) we have to focus on what we have to do, and many other things that we should avoid.
"They play very vertically and press a lot. They will put a lot of intensity. In Bologna, I lived two wonderful years, both on a personal and sporting level," he added.
Juventus, however, enter the weekend in sixth position, six points off leaders Napoli, after drawing four of their last six Serie A games.
Motta has drawn 10 of his first 19 games in charge of Juventus in all competitions (W8 L1), with only Cestmir Vycpalek in 1971 (12) taking charge of fewer games to reach that total since 1929-30.
They have also struggled at the top end of the pitch, scoring once in their last three games in all competitions, something Motta acknowledged needed to improve.
"We're coming off a few games that we haven't won," Motta said. "In some we've had good performances, but we need to improve.
"We can't just focus on one phase of the game to get the result we want. Our offensive phase is everyone's responsibility, starting with our goalkeeper.
"The more we arrive with the right men up front, the more likely we are to score. At the same time, we need to defend and prevent our opponent from creating anything."
Messi scoops MLS MVP award after stellar Inter Miami season
Lionel Messi fought off competition from the Columbus Crew's Cucho Hernandez to scoop the MVP award in MLS for the 2024 campaign.
The league's MVP is chosen by players, club technical staff and journalists, with Messi receiving 38.43% of the votes, beating Hernandez, who got 33.7%.
The Inter Miami star led the Herons to a single-season MLS points record of 74, while also helping them win the Supporters' Shield for the very first time.
Messi registered 32 goal involvements (21 goals, 11 assists) in 22 appearances, including the playoffs, a total only bettered currently by the LA Galaxy's Gabriel Pec (34).
He is also the fifth Argentine to claim the accolade after Christian Gomez (2006), Guillermo Barros Schelotto (2008), Diego Valeri (2017) and Luciano Acosta (2022).
Miami lost just one regular-season match with Messi in their starting line-up, while they also averaged 2.68 goals scored in those games.
Additionally, the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner helped Miami become the first team to record at least 11 wins at home and on the road (excluding the shootout era).
Earlier in the season, Messi broke the MLS record for the most assists (five) and goal involvements (six) in a single game during a 6-2 thrashing of the New York Red Bulls.
However, Messi could not inspire Miami to playoff glory. They were knocked out by Atlanta United, with the Red Bulls and the Galaxy to do battle for the MLS Cup on Saturday.
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