AC Milan head coach Paulo Fonseca praised his team's resilience in overcoming the challenge of playing a man down during Saturday's narrow home win against Udinese.
Milan won 1-0 in the Serie A clash at home after an early goal from Samuel Chukwueze, despite being reduced to 10 men following Tijjani Reijnders' red card at the half-hour mark.
"I must say that the game had two parts. The first one until minute 30 when we received a red card," Fonseca told DAZN.
"We played 30 minutes with great personality and quality. It was close to my idea. After the red card, it was a game made of team spirit.
"We suffered, but we suffered together. If there was any doubt on whether this team was united, today we proved we are."
Fonseca believed his side deserved the win, despite Udinese having two goals disallowed, one from Kingsley Ehizibue and another from Christian Kabasele following a tight offside call.
"It would have been unfair for the team. We had the best chances and it would have been unfair not to win this game. The team deserved these three points," he said.
The former Roma boss also praised midfielder Christian Pulisic for his effort, including an assist and his defensive work, after Reijnders got sent off.
"Christian's game was fantastic. This is the spirit that we must always have," he said.
For Udinese manager Kosta Runjaic, the defeat was a bitterly disappointing affair as his side failed to take the opportunity of their numerical advantage.
"I'm not a referee. I am the coach. It’s senseless to say anything," Runjaic said about the two disallowed goals.
"Even with a man up, it was not easy against a team that defended deep. We needed patience, good passing rhythm and circulation and a bit of luck.
"Surely I don’t like the result because it was possible to go home with a draw."
Glenmuir, Happy Grove, Frome Technical book Round of 16 spots with consecutive wins
There was chaos at Carder Park in Portland as the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Wata daCosta Cup second round contest between former champions Glenmuir High and Titchfield High was briefly halted due to darkness on Saturday.
As the natural light faded, anticipation was that the lights at the venue would have been turned on by the ground personnel. However, a delay in doing so caused a pause in the game with Glenmuir leading 2-0 and 25 minutes plus added time to play, leaving fans disgruntled.
After about a 15-minute pause, the lights were eventually turned on, and Glenmuir saw off the remaining minutes to make it consecutive wins as they booked their spot in the Round of 16.
Orel Miller and Orane Watson scored the goals for Glenmuir High, who heads Group 7 on six points, three ahead of reigning champions Clarendon College, who registered a 3-1 win over Paul Bogle, also on three points. Titchfield is yet to get on the board.
Meanwhile, Happy Grove edged Denbigh High 4-3 in their Group 5 clash, which served as the curtain-raiser for the Glenmuir, Titchfield clash at Carder Park. The win, Happy Grove's second on the trot, secured them a spot in the Round of 16 as they sit comfortably atop the standings on six points.
Belair (one point), Denbigh (one point), and Holmwood Technical (zero point) complete Group 5.
Frome Technical also secured a Round of 16 berth with a 2-0 win over Black River High in Santa Cruz. Frome Technical remain at the summit of Group 2 on six points, two ahead of Ocho Rios High, who won their encounter 4-0 over Cedric Titus.
Saturday’s results
Maldon High 0, Alphansus Davis 2
Black River High 0, Frome Tech 2
STETHS 0, Manchester High 0
Spot Valley High 1, Kemps Hill High 2
Happy Grove High 4, Denbigh High 3
Titchfield High 0, Glenmuir High 2
Port Antonio High 4, Yallahs High 1
Rusea’s High 1, Cornwall College 1
Ocho Rios High 4, Cedric Titus High 0
Browns Town High 2, Munro College 1
William Knibb Memorial 0, Mannings School 1
Paul Bogle High 1, Clarendon College 3
Christiana High 4, St Mary High 0
Holmwood Tech vs Belair High (postponed)
Dinthill Technical 0, Central High 0
Garvey Maceo High 2, McGrath High 2
Presentation College close gap at top of SSFL Premier Division to four points after 2-0 win over San Juan North
Presentation College closed the gap between them and leaders St. Benedict’s College in the Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) to four points with a 2-0 win over San Juan North Secondary on Saturday.
A second half double from Vaughn Clement gave Presentation the win and moved them to 28 points from 11 games with a game in hand on the leaders.
Clement’s goals came in the 56th and 89th minutes.
Leaders St. Benedict’s dropped points after being held to a 1-1 draw by Signal Hill Secondary. The prolific Derrel Garcia gave St. Benedict’s the lead in the 55th minute before Kyle James equalized for Signal Hill 20 minutes from full time.
Defending champions Fatima College were the biggest winners of the day, 5-1 over East Mucurapo Secondary.
Liam Gooding (41’) and Michael Chaves (43’) scored in quick succession to give Fatima a 2-0 lead going into the halftime interval before Keysan Haynes gave East Mucurapo life in the 60th minute to make it 2-1.
That hope was quickly dashed as Seth Hadeed (64’) made it 3-1 before Josiah Gobin (74’, 86’) completed the scoring. Fatima remain third in the standings with 26 points from their 12 outings.
Other results on Saturday:
Arima North Secondary 2-0 St. Mary’s College
Miracle Ministries Pentecostal High School 3-2 Malick Secondary
Queen’s Royal College 4-1 Trinity College East
Speyside Secondary 0-1 St. Anthony’s College
St. Augustine Secondary 3-1 Naparima College
Calabar, Camperdown play out 1-1 stalemate to end preliminary round
Calabar High School and Camperdown High signed off the preliminary round of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Digicel Manning Cup on a positive note as they played out a 1-1 stalemate in their final Zone D encounter at Red Hills Road on Saturday.
Jahreem McKenzie fired Camperdown in front in the 25th minute, but that effort was cancelled out by Jayden Perry (30th), who ensured Calabar remain upbeat heading into the second round for the first time in seven years.
With the point, Calabar ended second on 23 points, two points behind STATHS, who blanked Haile Selassie 5-0 in the other group contest. Vauxhall (13 points) ended third ahead of Camperdown (12 points), Haile Selassie (12 points) and Kingston Technical (zero).
Calabar’s Head coach Andrew Price was pleased with the effort of his fringe players.
“It was basically an audition for some of the players that didn’t get any playing time throughout the round. So we took a look at them as we go into the second round, and I must say well done to the team for this round, but the work just begins now; we have to be steadfast and resolute in our preparation for the second round because we know we are going to come up against tougher opposition,” Price said in a post-game interview.
Despite already being through to the next round of the competition, Calabar were in no mood to relent, as they were spirited at the start and looked more threatening in open play of the early exchanges. They created a few half chances but couldn’t get on target.
That allowed Camperdown to break the deadlock against the run of play when McKenzie got on the end of a through pass and confidently finished his third of the season.
However, the lead was short-lived as Calabar pulled level when Camperdown’s goalkeeper Roshawn Gilroy failed to advance to a loose ball and Perry capitalised with a close range finish to also register his third of the season.
The second half offered very little to write home about, though Calabar asserted their authority on the contest and bossed possession. Still, chances were at a premium, as the Red Hills Road boys only had a couple half looks on goal, which amounted to nothing.
The stalemate left Camperdown’s coach, Karume Huie, beaming with pride at the strides made by his young team, though they missed out on the second round.
“Yes, disappointed that we didn’t make the next round, but in live you see a light at the end of the tunnel and so I am proud of my boys. I gave some 13- and 14-year-olds a chance to play in this game, so it’s a work in progress, and we will bounce back stronger next year,” Huie declared.
Saturday’s results
Calabar 1, Camperdown 1
STATHS 5, Haile Selassie 0
Mona 1, Charlie Smith 0
Vauxhall 6, Kingston Technical 2
Jamaica College 7, Bridgeport 1
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