Liberta Sports Club President Kenny Benjamin.
After holding out for the past two weeks, Liberta Sports Club will play its first game in the Antigua and Barbuda Premier Division this Sunday but its president, Kenneth Benjamin, has continued to express his concerns over the silence of the Antigua and Barbuda Football Associations’ (ABFA) on the matter of player insurance.
Liberta has been at odds with the ABFA since earlier this year when it’s president wrote to the ABFA asking about the presidency of the association and insurance coverage for players for the 2022/2023 season of the Premier Division.
ABFA General Secretary Rohan Hector told Sportsmax.TV that President Everton Gonzales, who fell ill shortly after he was elected in April 2022, is still in charge and is aware of the daily running of the association as per his instructions.
A week ago, Hector said, Gonzales in a missive, sent word to the clubs updating them on football-related matters including plans to support the clubs with a second tranche of Covid-19 relief funds as well as additional support funding for the teams that have been without competition for two and half years prior to three weeks ago when competition resumed in the Premier Division.
However, Benjamin remains skeptical about the veracity of that missive and is even more concerned about the ongoing silence over player insurance.
Hector told Sportsmax.TV that the FA sent out a form to collect contact information from the players in an effort to speed up the process for new and more robust insurance coverage for players, coaches and officials in the premier division.
However, Benjamin claims that the association already had contact information for the players and that he does not believe that the players are covered even as the premier division enters its third week.
“A member club had a concern and they didn’t even have the courtesy to respond to us,” Benjamin told Sportsmax.TV in response to Hector’s claim and perceived threat about sanctioning Liberta with the possibility of expulsion from the league.
“Before the league, we wrote to them and said what is the situation with the insurance and they didn’t respond and we wrote and said we can’t let our players play without insurance they are working men and they haven’t responded up to now,” Benjamin said Wednesday.
“So for the first two games we didn’t turn up because they haven’t said anything to us. They sent a general email that is not addressing our issue.”
Benjamin indicated that the FA suggested that what the clubs must do is that if there is an injury, the club should spend the money for rehabilitation, submit an invoice and the FA would reimburse the club. This, Benjamin said, was not satisfactory.
“When we saw that we asked them, how much will be reimbursed back, what if someone gets injured in practice are they covered. All of these questions need to be answered before we just jump up and say okay,” he said.
“So those were our concerns, mainly insurance. They are trying to avoid this issue. That is not the way an association functions. All we wanted was a dialogue with them to clear up whether the players are covered.
“We are an organized club. We are not just a team. We have to answer to our members, auditors and all these things. We do those things so we want to know what is it that we are covered for, how much are you (the FA) going to give back if we spend x-amount of money.”
Leighton Levy is a journalist with 28 years’ experience covering crime, entertainment, and sports. He joined the staff at SportsMax.TV as a content editor two years ago and is enjoying the experience of developing sports content and new ideas. At SportsMax.tv he is pursuing his true passion - sports.
Minnesota 'justified the work' by overcoming Real Salt Lake
Minnesota United "justified the work" they did in preparing for a penalty shootout after beating Real Salt Lake, so says Eric Ramsay.
Loons coach Ramsay invited the club's office staff to attend the training ground and jeer his players during penalty practice ahead of Minnesota's playoff opener against Salt Lake.
After a 0-0 draw, Minnesota came away with a 5-4 shootout victory to take the edge in the best-of-three series, meaning a win at home on Saturday would get them into the next round.
And Ramsay believes his unorthodox method of preparation paid off.
"I would like to think that probably, without that, the players wouldn't have had the level of conviction they largely showed," Ramsay said.
"It was a bit of fun. There was a real sense of us being intentional behind that.
"I was really pleased that we included that as part of our prep.
"I don't think there were big chances given up either way.
"I sort of felt like as we opened up, we started to leak a little bit more space that wasn't there in the opening stages.
"[Goalkeeper] Dayne [St. Clair] was called into action a couple more times, and so was [Salt Lake goalkeeper] Zac MacMath. So I think it was a very even game, and given that we're coming here as the away team under challenging conditions, that's hats off to us.
“It felt like if we if we won, it would have justified the work. If we lost, there wouldn't have been anything we could have done differently.
"We were very solid, very disciplined, and that's one goal allowed in six games, which is very difficult to achieve at this level.
"I'm pleased with the defensive effort. I was also pleased that we were able to start to find a foothold in the game with the ball and create a couple of really good chances."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Minnesota United - Dawyne St. Clair
St. Clair made six saves in Game 1, and has been in fine form as of late.
United has allowed only one goal in their last six matches going back to the end of the regular season, going unbeaten in that time (W4 D2). This is the first time in club history that the Loons have allowed just one goal in a span of six matches in all competitions.
Real Salt Lake - Cristian Arango
Arango attempted five shots in Game 1, the most shots attempted by a Salt Lake player in a postseason match since Damir Kreilach had six attempts against Sporting Kansas City in the 2018 playoffs.
MATCH PREDICTION: MINNESOTA WIN
Salt Lake have managed just four wins in 21 all-time away playoff matches (D7 L10) including going winless in four straight (D2 L2). RSL lost on penalties in each of the last two away matches that ended in draws (2022 at Austin FC, 2023 against the Houston Dynamo).
After Tuesday's win on spot-kicks, Minnesota have been involved in seven penalty shootouts in all competitions since joining MLS in 2017, winning six of them, including the last four in a row.
The last five meetings between Minnesota and Salt Lake have been drawn after 90 minutes.
Including playoffs, the only matchup that has been drawn six straight times in MLS play is between the Chicago Fire and the New York Revolution, who played in six straight draws from 2021 to 2024.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Minnesota United - 44.5%
Real Salt Lake - 28.6%
Draw - 26.9%
Campion College, Hydel book quarterfinal berths as former champions STGC, Wolmer's Boys, STATHS miss out
Campion College and Hydel High booked their spots in the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Digicel Manning Cup quarterfinal round after both registered 1-0 wins over St Jago and Wolmer’s Boys in their respective second round group encounters on Friday.
The win for Campion College saw them finish second in Group One on six points, behind reigning champions Mona High, who blanked many times champion St George’s College 3-0 to finish on maximum nine points.
St George’s placed third on three points and missed out on the quarterfinal along with St Jago, who ended without point. However, both will have a shot at the Walker Cup knockout title.
The same is true for perennial semi-finalist St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) and 10-time winners Wolmer's Boys, who were both eliminated from the Manning Cup.
Wolmer’s Boys’ loss to Hydel saw them finish at the foot of Group Three with a point, while STATHS’ 1-0 win over group winners Kingston College was not enough to see them through. They finished third on four points, as Kingston College and Hydel took the top two spots with six points each.
Kingston College, Campion College, Mona High and Hydel are joined by Group Four leaders St Catherine (six points) and Group Two leaders Excelsior (six points) in the quarterfinal, with Jamaica College, Tivoli Gardens and Eltham on the hunt for the other two spots.
Friday’s results
Campion College 1, St Jago 0
Mona High 3, St George’s College 0
Hydel High 1, Wolmer’s Boys 0
STATHS 1, Kingston College 0
Saturday’s fixtures
St Catherine vs Jamaica College
Calabar vs Charlie Smith
Excelsior vs Jonathan Grant
Tivoli Gardens vs Eltham
*All games are scheduled for 3:00pm
Sounders in control of their playoff destiny but must find ruthless edge, says Schmetzer
Brian Schmetzer believes the Seattle Sounders are in control of their playoff destiny after edging out the Houston Dynamo in Game 1 of their best-of-three series.
After a goalless encounter, the Sounders held their nerve in the shootout, scoring all five spot-kicks before Erik Sviatchenko's miss proved costly.
They also stopped their opponents from registering a single shot on target, marking the fourth time the Sounders have achieved that milestone in a playoff match, and will be looking to do the same in their second encounter.
"Right now it doesn't matter how we played, really. We're in control and we won,” Schmetzer said. "This was going to be a tight series because the two teams are very good defensively.
"We've had our challenges this year sometimes scoring goals. Did we create enough? Those are all valid questions. Again, I would just repeat that those guys put the effort in. We were close on a couple of occasions."
Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei is also on the verge of history, with his shutout in the first game his 14th playoff clean sheet, needing one more to go level with LA Galaxy’s Kevin Hartman for the MLS record.
"Stef has an opportunity in Houston to tie for number one [all-time]," Schmetzer pointed out.
"So that's a goal that he can reach, he can attain, and let's see if he can do that. Because that would give us the best chance of ending the series in Houston."
For Houston, meanwhile, their cruel defeat in Game 1 was partly down to their own doing, so says head coach Ben Olsen.
The Dynamo boss acknowledged his side did not do enough in the final third, not helped by Adalberto Carrasquilla’s red card, which will see him miss the upcoming encounter.
Though the performance did not come as a surprise to Olsen, given the two sides’ defensive record in the regular season, he wants to see improvements at the Shell Energy Stadium this time around.
“It was hardly surprising. They are the best defensive team in the league. We are also one of the better defensive teams in the league, but then you add the playoffs to it,” Olsen said.
“It’s a heightened game of being alert defensively. You have these kind of games in the playoffs. We didn’t do enough to create better opportunities for ourselves to win that game.
“Some of that is our doing, some of it is that we’re playing a good defensive team. I said this leading up to the game, we are not going to get a lot of chances.
“We may get a few big ones and you have to finish them. It will be a similar situation at home, they are not going to turn into a bad defensive team overnight.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Houston Dynamo – Amine Bassi
In a team that is not filled with goals, Bassi has impressed for Houston, with his 10 goal involvements (three goals, six assists) in the regular season, a total only bettered by Ibrahim Aliyu (10) for the Dynamo.
The Moroccan also created more chances (79) than any of his team-mates, and his creative flair will be needed to unlock the Sounders’ defence.
Seattle Sounders – Albert Rusnak
Rusnak has played a starring role for Seattle this term, with only Jordan Morris (17) scoring more goals in the regular season for the Sounders than the Slovakian.
Despite not hitting the back of the net in Game 1, Rusnak notched four goal involvements (two goals, two assists) in three games heading into the postseason.
MATCH PREDICTION: HOUSTON DYNAMO WIN
The Dynamo have lost only two of their 18 all-time home playoff matches (W12 D4), though one of those defeats was against Seattle in the 2017 Conference Finals. Houston won nine of their first 10 home playoff matches but have won just three of eight since (D4 L1).
Seattle, however, have won six of their last seven away matches, including the last three in a row, all with clean sheets. This is the second time they have kept three straight away clean sheets in all competitions since joining MLS in 2009, also doing so between June and July 2011.
They have also lost only two of their last 23 matches against the Dynamo in all competitions, including securing a shootout win after a scoreless draw at home in Game 1. Houston have also failed to score in 12 of their last 18 meetings with the Sounders.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Houston Dynamo – 42.1%
Draw – 26.7%
Seattle Sounders – 31.2%
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