Jamaica goalkeeper Andre Blake finished third in Major League Soccer’s MVP voting as the player continues to be recognised among the best after an outstanding season to date.
The Jamaica was hoping to be the first goalkeeper to claim the award since legendary USA goalkeeper Tony Meola who won in 2000. Blake, however, finished behind behind Nashville SC's Hany Mukhtar and Austin FC's Sebastián Driussi for the for the 2022 Landon Donovan MVP Award.
The 31-year-old has already claimed fair share of silverware. Blake became the first player in history to win the Goalkeeper of the Year award on three occasions when he claimed the nomination last week and was also received the Wanamaker Athletic Award. The Philadelphia Union has turned in a career-high in single-season shutouts this year.
On the back of an excellent season, Blake will also have the opportunity to lift the MLS Cup on Sunday, after leading the team to a 3-1 win over New York City FC 3-1 in the Eastern Conference Championship last week. Philadephia will face Western Conference champions and 2022 Supporters Shield winners Los Angeles Football Club in Saturday’s final.
The Leeward Islands Hurricanes got their second win of the CG Insurance Super50 Cup with a dominant 68-run win over the Jamaica Scorpions at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Tuesday.
After winning the toss and batting first, openers Devon Thomas (38) and Ross Powell (27) gave the Leewards a good start before a procession of wickets in the middle overs left them reeling at 76-5 in the 20th over.
Thankfully for them, a 120-run sixth-wicket partnership between Rahkeem Cornwall and Terance Ward steadied the ship with Cornwall making a 72-ball 81, hitting seven fours and five sixes. Ward played more of an anchoring role making a 63-ball 32.
West Indies leg-spinner Hayden Walsh Jr (35) and Kofi James (25 not out) provided some impetus late in the innings to help the Hurricanes post 270-9 from their 50 overs.
West Indies all-rounder Odean Smith took 4-46 from eight overs for the Scorpions.
Scorpions openers Brandon King and Jermaine Blackwood then got the reply off to a good start, putting on 54 before King was removed for 32 in the 10th over.
That partnership proved to be the biggest one of the whole innings as Blackwood was removed for 31 in the 18th over after putting on 31 for the second wicket with Nkrumah Bonner. Bonner eventually top-scored with 44 while captain Rovman Powell added 24 as the Scorpions lost wickets at regular intervals to finish 202-9 off their 50 overs.
Off-spinner Kofi James starred with the ball with 4-32 from 10 overs.
A fine all-round effort from Roston Chase propelled the Barbados Pride to a six-wicket win over the West Indies Academy in the CG Insurance Super50 Cup at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua on Tuesday.
The Pride restricted the Academy to 213 all out in 46.1 overs after winning the toss and fielding first. The Academy’s batting effort was led by fifties from Keagan Simmons (64) and Kevin Wickham (54) as well as 45 from Teddy Bishop. Pacer Ramon Simmonds led the way with the ball for Barbados with 4-39 off seven overs while Roston Chase (3-31 off 10 overs) and Roshon Primus (3-27 off 4.1) also contributed with the ball.
Chase, recently recalled to the West Indies Test squad heading to Australia later this month, then compiled a classy 86 not out from 81 balls to lead the Pride to a successful chase. His innings included nine fours and four sixes. Opener Zacahry McCaskie also played a big hand with a 93-ball 71 including nine fours and a six as Barbados reached 214-4 off 44.1 overs for victory.
This was Barbados' first game while the Academy now have two losses from as many outings.
Lionel Messi's potential move to Inter Miami in MLS would be even more significant for US soccer than Pele playing for the New York Cosmos, former United States international Brad Friedel told Stats Perform.
MLS has long been considered a likely end-of-career destination for Messi, but the intensity of such links has ramped up considerably in recent days, with media reports suggesting David Beckham-backed Inter are increasingly confident of luring the Paris Saint-Germain forward to MLS as early as next year.
Beckham was of course seen as something of a pioneer when he made the switch to LA Galaxy in 2007, and stars such as Thierry Henry, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Kaka, Andrea Pirlo and Didier Drogba all followed over the next decade.
But before MLS, the North American Soccer League (NASL) had served a similar purpose for ageing superstars in the 1970s and 80s, with Brazil legend Pele proving the trendsetter back then when he joined the Cosmos – Franz Beckenbauer, Johan Cruyff, Gerd Muller, Eusebio, Bobby Moore and George Best all went on to feature in the NASL before it collapsed after the 1984 season.
For all the history US soccer has with the biggest names in the sport, Friedel thinks nothing that has gone before could compare with the impact Messi's arrival would have.
"So, we had David Beckham over here, which was one of the best signings that MLS ever made for notoriety around the world," he told Stats Perform.
"And in today's day and age with social media, everyone's sort of a journalist with their phones these days, and how quickly media gets around the world.
"[Messi to MLS] would be unlike anything anyone's ever seen in this country, including when Pele was over here, just because of the way the media is.
"It would be incredible if Lionel Messi was playing in this league. The fans that he attracts, the global respect, how good he has been.
"If they can pull that off… I'm not generally [in favour of] the older player coming in [to MLS], but like [Giorgio] Chiellini and [Gareth] Bale were [signed] for a reason and [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic was for a reason, then work out that if you can get Messi, get him over here."
Although Messi's PSG contract expires next year, Inter should not expect a free run at the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner.
PSG are still reportedly confident of securing a contract extension, while officials from Messi's former club Barcelona have spoken openly about their desire to bring him back to Camp Nou.
17-year-old former Hydel High sprinter Kerrica Hill has been named among five nominees for the 2022 Women’s Rising Star Award, World Athletics announced in a press release on Tuesday.
The award will recognize this year's best U20 athlete at the World Athletics Awards 2022.
The nominations reflect the many standout performances that the sport has witnessed this year, at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Cali, the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 and other events around the world.
In addition to winning the Class Two Girls 100m in a record 11.16 at the ISSA Boys and Girls Championships in April, Hill also produced a World U18 record 12.77 to win the 100m hurdles at the World U20 Championships in Cali, Colombia in August. She was also a member of Jamaica’s gold medal-winning and world U20 record setting 4x100m quartet at those championships alongside Serena Cole and the Clayton sisters.
Since then, Hill has gone pro and joined the Elite Performance Track Club, a training group that includes five-time World Championships gold medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Commonwealth Games 110m hurdles champion Rasheed Broadbell and Commonwealth Games finalist Rushel Clayton as well as World Championships relay medallists Kemba Nelson and Stacey-Ann Williams.
The other nominees are Kenyans Jackline Chepkoech and Faith Cherotich, South Africa’s Mine De Klerk and Serbia’s Adriana Vilagos. Chepkoech won 300m gold at the Commonwealth Games and won the event at the Brussels Diamond League. Cherotich won the 3000m steeplechase at the World U20 Championships and finished third at the Diamond League Final in Zurich. De Klerk won gold and bronze in the shot put and discus, respectively, at the World U20 Championships and had seven of the world’s top 10 U20 shot put performances while Vilagos won gold in the javelin at the World U20 Championships and silver at the European Championships. She also had the 11 best U20 performances of the year.
The winner of the 2022 Women’s Rising Star Award will be selected by an international panel of experts and be announced on World Athletics’ social media platforms in early December.
Akeal Hosein and Kjorn Ottley starred as the Trinidad & Tobago Red Force began the defence of their CG Insurance Super50 Cup title with a seven-wicket win over the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy on Monday.
After the Red Force won the toss and chose to field, Hosein ripped through the CCC batting line-up to finish with figures of 4-38 from eight overs and three deliveries. Sunil Narine and Jayden Seales also took two wickets each to help restrict the CCC to 119 all out off 33.3 overs. Jonathan Drakes and Matthew Forde got 38 and 37, respectively.
Opener Kjorn Ottley then struck a composed 65 not out from 79 balls to anchor the chase for the Red Force. His knock included eight fours. Jason Mohammed (23) and Joshua Da Silva (17) provided good support as T&T needed just 27.4 overs to reach 120-3.
Dominican left-hander Alick Athanaze struck a brilliant 133 to help the Windward Islands secure a 28-run victory over the Guyana Harpy Eagles in the CG Insurance Super50 Cup at the Queens Park Oval in Port-of-Spain on Monday.
The Harpy Eagles won the toss and elected to field, quickly regretting that decision as Windward Islands openers Athanaze and Johnson Charles put on 119 before Charles became Gudakesh Motie’s first wicket for a 63-ball 64 in the 23rd over.
Athanaze then belted the bowling all over the Queens Park Oval, putting on a further 127 for the second wicket with Kavem Hodge. In the process, Athanaze brought up his maiden List A hundred, eventually being dismissed for 133 in the 43rd over with the score on 246. His century included 12 fours and four sixes and came off 140 deliveries.
Hodge (42) and captain Andre Fletcher (8) were the other batsmen dismissed as the Windwards were able to post an excellent 296-4 off their 50 overs. Motie took 2-57 for Guyana.
In their reply, Guyana got contributions from most of their batsmen but it wasn’t enough in the end. Opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul, recently called up to the West Indies Test squad for the first time, was the chief scorer with a 47-ball 48 including six fours.
Contributions from Anthony Bramble (18), Leon Johnson (22), Sherfane Rutherford (28) and Kevin Sinclair (33) meant that after 40.1 overs, Guyana found themselves 220-9 needing 77 runs from 59 balls for victory.
The final pair of Gudakesh Motie and Veerasammy Permaul put up a valiant effort with a partnership of 48 before Permaul’s dismissal for 28 meant the Harpy Eagles were bowled out for 268 in 46.4 overs, giving the Windwards the 28-run win. Motie finished 31 not out off 27 balls. Shadrack Descarte took 3-41 off eight overs while Ryan John and Kenneth Dember took 2-54 and 2-46, respectively.
Glenmuir, Cornwall College, William Knibb, Clarendon College, Frome Technical and The Manning’s School all scored wins to kick-off the quarterfinal round of the ISSA/Digicel daCosta Cup on Saturday.
The points were shared in Group 1 as Central High and Manchester played out a 1-1 draw at Brooks Park while there was a goalless draw between Christiana and defending champions Garvey Maceo at Glenmuir.
A Group 2 double-header at Drax Hall saw Cornwall College and William Knibb get wins over Dinthill Technical and Paul Bogle, respectively. Cornwall secured a 2-1 win over the previously unbeaten Dinthill while William Knibb needed just one goal to get past Paul Bogle.
Clarendon College are still unbeaten and were the biggest winners on the day with a 5-0 win over Rusea’s at Foga Road in Group 3. At the Llandilo Sports Complex, Frome Technical got a 2-0 win over York Castle to also remain unbeaten so far this season.
There was a pair of 2-0 wins in Group 4 for Glenmuir and Manning’s over STETHS and Edwin Allen at STETHS and Llandilo Sports Complex, respectively.
Action continues on Tuesday with Manchester facing Christiana at Brooks Park and Central facing Garvey Maceo at Foga Road in Group 1 and William Knibb taking Cornwall College at Drax Hall and Paul Bogle playing Dinthill at York Oval in Group 2.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) has announced the squad for the West Indies Women’s Under-19 training camp and trial matches to be played next month in Trinidad. The 23 players will participate in two trial matches on Tuesday, November 1 and a third trial match on Wednesday, November 2.
“The upcoming training camp in Trinidad for our Women's U19 squad will be an important component of their preparation for their inaugural tour of India which immediately follows, and also for the ICC Women’s Under-19 T20 World Cup which takes place in South Africa in January,” said CWI Director of Cricket Jimmy Adams.
“During the eight-day camp, the squad will continue its ongoing program of technical, tactical, physical and mental preparation. The entire experience of the camp, and subsequent tour to India, will play a big role in the development of our next generation of international female cricketers who have had limited experience of playing outside the region before now.”
Following the practice matches, the players will have a skills and fitness sessions from November 4-6 under the guidance of Head Coach Steve Liburd. This is part of the preparations for upcoming tour of India from November 7-25.
This series in the sub-continent will form a crucial part of the team’s preparations for the inaugural ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2023.
The global event will feature 41 matches be played from January 14-29, 2023 in South Africa. The official warm-up matches will be from January 9-11.
The 16 participating teams will play in four groups in the preliminary round. West indies have been drawn in Group C alongside New Zealand, Ireland and Indonesia.
Full training squad: Asabi Callender, Kenika Cassar, Jahzara Claxton, Naijanni Cumberbatch, Destiny Edward, Earnisha Fontaine, Jannillea Glasgow, Realeanna Grimmond, Trishan Holder, Zaida James, Djenaba Joseph, Maria La Foucade, Namiah Marcellin, KDJazz Mitchell, Ashmini Munisar, Niveena Ramnauth, Cyanna Retemiah, Selena Ross, Shalini Samaroo, Shunelle Sawh, Lena Scott, Abini St Jean and Kate Wilmott.
The best in the East and the West will face off in the MLS Cup after Philadelphia Union launched a stunning 11-minute second-half rally to defeat reigning champions New York City 3-1 on Sunday.
Union will take on Supporters' Shield winners LAFC in the season decider on November 5 at Bank of California Stadium, with Steve Cherundolo's side easily accounting for Austin 3-0 earlier on Sunday.
Philadelphia had lost to NYC in last year's Conference Finals but a burst of goals from Julian Carranza, Daniel Gazdag and substitute Cory Burke sent them into their first-ever MLS Cup.
NYC had silenced the Subaru Park crowd when they went ahead in the 57th minute from Maxi Moralez's low strike after a cushioned pass from Santiago Rodriguez.
MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Andre Blake prevented a second NYC goal when he made a one-handed save to deny Alexander Callens' header.
Union capitalized on Blake's brilliance almost immediately, with Carranza slotting in a 65th-minute equalizer from Jakob Glesnes' quickly-taken free-kick.
Two minutes later Jack McGlynn's brilliant cross-field ball was headed down expertly by Carranza, splitting two defenders and setting up Gazdag to fire home for 2-1.
Burke, who had been brought on in the 62nd minute, burst forward with speed and strength to lash in a left-foot strike for 3-1 in the 76th minute.
LAFC's win over Austin was less complicated, with Cristian Arango nodding them ahead in the 29th minute, before a second-half Maximiliano Urruti own goal and Kwadwo Opoku strike settled their Conference Final.
Philadelphia and LAFC had both been top seeds in the Eastern and Western Conferences respectively, having finished the regular season equal on points.
LAFC won the Supporters' Shield due to recording more wins across the regular season. Both clubs will be aiming for their first-ever MLS Cup titles.
Jamaica Defence Force Captain Dwayne Ford dethroned Guyana’s Lennox Brathwaite to win the Wogarth Cup as Jamaica won the Team Match by the smallest of margins as the West Indies Full Bore Shooting Council Championship came to an exciting climax at Twickenham Park on Saturday.
Jamaica’s eight-member team were forced to dig deep to hold off a hard-charging Guyana which made the victory satisfying for Jamaica Rifle Association Vice-President Karen Anderson, who was also a member of the winning team.
"Jamaica is positively thrilled to have won the West Indies Cup team match on home soil and defeating Guyana in the process," she said.
"It has been a long slog in trying to beat them over the years and to do it on home soil, in particular, after a really tough tournament. We showed a great level of consistency. There might have been some doubt after the long-range team match the day before where we finished last but it bodes well for the team's confidence how we managed to end the tournament and win that particular cup."
She also reserved special praise for team leader, Captain Ford.
"It is even more heartening when you see Dwayne Ford win the Wogarth Cup which is a tremendous achievement in defeating Lennox Brathwaite, who is a seven-time Wogarth winner. We are on a high and we are just going to build on this going into next year's competition."
Captain Ford, a recently crowned O-Class champion, led his team by example. He and teammate Nicola Guy shot impressively at 300 yards, each scoring perfect scores of 50.4 to give Jamaica an early five-point lead. The home team scored 373.23 over its nearest rivals Antigua and Barbuda with Guyana on 360.16.
Jamaica extended its lead after 500 yards with a score of 379.20 but Guyana eventually narrowed the gap and claimed victory with a score 383.23.
Braithwaite answered the call at 500 yard with score of 50.3 that would prove pivotal at the final range as he and Ford battled for the Wogarth Cup that goes to the top-scoring shooter in the West Indies Cup.
At 600 yards, Jamaica dropped 10 points early on and found themselves in a major shoot-out with Guyana. However, the shooters managed to steel themselves and recovered to score 1114.58 to hold off Guyana who shot a 1113.63.
In the end, Ford defeated the seven-time champion Brathwaite by 0.1 to take the Wogarth Cup.
Chad Ziadie and Wendy McMaster emerged winners of the recent National Shotgun Champions (NSC) held at the Grand Port Royal Hotel.
West Indies batsman Keacy Carty got the first century of the 2022 CG Insurance Super50 and the second List A hundred of his career to help the Leeward Islands Hurricanes beat the West Indies Academy by three wickets in Saturday’s opener in Antigua.
Carty’s classy 103 not out, including 10 fours and two sixes off 120 balls, helped the Hurricanes chase down a target of 191 in just 39 overs, losing seven wickets in the process. Left-arm spinner Joshua Bishop produced an excellent spell of 4-40 from 10 overs despite the loss.
Earlier, Kevin Wickham’s 44 and Keagan Simmons’ 43 propelled the Academy to 190 for 9 off their 50 overs after the Leewards won the toss and put them in to bat.
Rahkeem Cornwall took 4-42 from 10 overs for the Leewards.
Tagenarine Chanderpaul, son of the great Shivnarine Chanderpaul, has been handed his first West Indies Test squad call-up for the upcoming tour of Australia.
The 26-year-old, who was a reserve batter for the series against Bangladesh earlier this year, could open the batting alongside captain Kraigg Brathwaite.
Chanderpaul scored the second-most runs in the 2021-22 West Indies four-day championship, hitting 439 across eight innings at an average of 73.16.
His father made 164 Test appearances for West Indies, scoring 11,867 runs at an average of 51.37, managing 30 centuries. Only Brian Lara has scored more in the team's history (11,912 runs).
"We have been playing good Test cricket and expect to do well against the Australians on their home turf," lead selector Desmond Haynes said.
"We have one newcomer to the team in Tagenarine Chanderpaul. He equipped himself very well in the West Indies Championship four-day matches and also did a very good job at the top of the order against Bangladesh A in Saint Lucia this summer.
"He has what it takes to do well at the highest level."
Meanwhile, Jason Holder, Roston Chase and Shamarh Brooks also return to the squad, with West Indies due to play two Test matches in Australia in November and December.
The tour will be the last for head coach Phil Simmons, who offered his resignation after West Indies suffered a humiliating first-round exit at the T20 World Cup.
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