2021 finalists Manning’s got their sixth win in as many games in the 2022 ISSA/Digicel DaCosta Cup with a 5-1 win over Black River at Black River.

With 18 points, Manning’s now have a sizeable seven-point Zone D lead over Petersfield, who drew 0-0 at home with Grange Hill, their second consecutive draw. The other Zone D game also featured no goals between Belmont Academy and Godfrey Stewart at the Crawford Sports Complex.

STETHS also now have six wins from six games thanks to a 1-0 win over B.B Coke in the second game of a home double-header. The first game of that double-header saw Maggotty and Lacovia play out a 1-1 draw. Munro College remain second but are now eight points adrift of STETHS after a shock 1-2 loss to Sydney Pagon at home.

Dinthill Technical now have seven wins in as many games after a 4-1 win over Charlemont at Charlemont in Zone K. Charlemont now have 15 points and sit third in the zone behind their opponents and McGrath High, who also have 15 points but a better goal difference after a 2-0 home win over Ewarton. The zone’s other game saw Enid Bennett beat Guys Hill 1-0 at the Bybrook Sports Club.

Belair secured a 1-0 home win over Bellefield to move to second in Zone F on nine points, one behind leaders Manchester High. DeCarteret College are third on eight points after a comprehensive 5-0 home win over May Day.

Clarendon College leads Zone H with nine points from three games after a 2-1 win over Edwin Allen High at Foga Road. The other Zone H game saw Thompson Town get their first win of the season, 1-0 over Kellits at home to move to third behind Clarendon College and Edwin Allen.

In Zone N, Winston Jones suffered a 1-5 defeat at the hands of Foga Road at the Sunset Playfield.

Old Harbour beat Tacius Golding 7-0 at the Port Esquivel Sports Club for their third win in four games in Zone M, the same record as Central High who beat Denbigh 1-0 at Effortville.

In Zone A, Irwin dropped their first points of the season after playing out a 1-1 draw with St. James High at home. On Friday, Green Pond beat Anchovy 3-1 at home to move to 10 points from five games, thee behind leaders Irwin. The other Friday game saw Maldon hand 12-time champions Cornwall College their second straight loss and third in five games with a 2-1 win to move to third on seven points, one ahead of their opponents.

Tacky High got their third straight win to take command of Zone J. They beat Wycliffe Martin High 3-1 at home to move to 14 points from six games, eight points ahead of Horace Clarke in second. St. Mary High and St. Mary Tech played out a 0-0 draw at the Highgate Community Centre in the day’s other game.

In Zone L, Paul Bogle suffered their first loss of the season in seven games, a 1-3 home defeat at the hands of St. Thomas Technical. Paul Bogle still leads the zone with 18 points, four more than Yallahs who beat Robert Lightbourne 3-0 at Robert Lightbourne. Seaforth secured a 2-1 home win over Morant Bay in the other game.

In Zone G, Mile Gully got a 1-0 home win over Alphansus Davis High. On Friday, leaders Holmwood moved to 10 points from four games with a 3-0 win over Alston at Kirkvine.

In other Friday results, Rusea’s moved to the top of Zone B with 12 points from five games after a 5-0 away win over Merlene Ottey while Green Island beat Hopewell 4-1 to move to third. Frome Technical are second with nine points but have played two less games than Rusea’s.

Spot Valley and Herbert Morrison played out a 1-1 draw at Spot Valley in Zone C.

York Castle moved to the top of Zone I with a 1-0 win over Ocho Rios at Mount Pleasant Academy. They now have 10 points from four games, one point more than Oracabessa who beat Marcus Garvey 1-0 at Drax Hall.

Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz are set to play Paraguay in two international friendlies next month as they continue preparations for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Defending champions Kingston College are still undefeated in the 2022 ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup after securing a comfortable 3-0 win over rivals Calabar at Calabar on Saturday.

KC now leads Group A with 12 points after four games, two points ahead of Waterford who hammered Meadowbrook 5-0 at home. KC’s North Street neighbors and 22-time Manning Cup winners St. George’s College are third on nine points after a 3-0 win at Ardenne.

30-time champions Jamaica College got their third straight win and fourth in five games with a 10-0 demolition of St. Mary’s College at St. Mary’s College. JC now leads Group B with 13 points, the same amount as St. Catherine High who beat Holy Trinity 3-0 at the Spanish Town Prison Oval on Friday. Cedar Grove scored an upset 2-1 home win over St. Jago in the group’s other Saturday game.

Charlie Smith beat Haile Selassie 2-1 in a Group C top of the table clash at the Tony Spalding Sports Complex to move to 14 points from five games, one ahead of their opponents. The group’s other games saw Bridgeport and Edith Dalton play out a 1-1 draw at Dunbeholden and Vauxhall lose 1-2 to Tivoli at home.

STATHS moved to 14 points to remain at the top of Group D after a 2-2 draw with Norman Manley at home. Jonathan Grant is still second after a 3-1 win over Dunoon at Excelsior while Spanish Town beat Tarrant 2-1 at the Spanish Town Prison Oval in the other game.

Mona High continued their red-hot form in Group E with a 6-0 win over Kingston High at Breezy Castle, their sixth win in as many games. Mona are now six points ahead of their closest challengers, Wolmer’s, who suffered a 1-0 defeat to Camperdown on Friday at the Alpha Institute, their second straight loss after winning their first four games. Hydel beat Papine 3-0 at Royal Lakes to move to 10 points from their six encounters.

Group F play saw Excelsior go to Kingston Technical and scrape a 2-1 win to move to 13 points from five games, maintaining a two-point lead over Campion College who beat Clan Carthy 1-0 at home. Jose Marti is third on seven points after a 5-1 win over Cumberland at home.

World championships and Commonwealth Games finalist Natoya Goule has implored Jamaicans to do a better job of protecting the environment and steer away from littering.

West Indies bowling legend and Jamaica Tallawahs coach Curtley Ambrose admits to taking special pride and pleasure in lifting the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) crown on Friday because of the team's status as underdogs.

The Jamaica-based franchise lifted the third title in its history and first in six years following a dominant 8-wicket win over the more heavily favoured Barbados Royals.  Heading into the final, the Royals were the league’s hottest team having lost just two of 10 games.

The Tallawahs on the other hand, who are conditioned by Ambrose and another Windies legend Shivnarine Chanderpaul, in the meantime, finished in the final qualifying spot.  At one point during the season, the Tallawahs lost 5 of 7 games.

“This means a lot as a group we came into the tournament as underdogs.  Not many gave us a chance to come out of the first round, let alone win it,” Ambrose said, following the team’s triumph.

“I haven’t sprinted for years and I found myself sprinting onto the field.  It was a wonderful performance thought and we were deserving winners,” he added.

“The thing about the Tallawahs is that we didn’t really on just one or two players.  At any given time, any player can step up.  We have depth in our batting, we have good bowling.  We stuck together as a family and we believed from day 1 that we could have won this championship and we did.”

Correction: The original story claimed that the Jamaica Tallawahs won its fourth CPL title on Friday, September 30 and it's first in four years. That was incorrect. The Tallawahs had previously won two titles (2013 and 2016). So the 2022 title was its first in six years. Sportsmax.TV apologises for the error.

Concacaf has conducted the official draw for the 2023 Concacaf U-17 Men’s Championship (CU17C).

The World Cup qualifying competition will take place February 11 - 26, 2023, in Guatemala, and will include the participation of 20 Concacaf Member Associations.

During Thursday’s draw, hosted at the Confederations Headquarters, in Miami, FL, the 16 nations participating in the 2023 CU17C group stage (all ranked 16 or better in the Concacaf Men’s U-17 Ranking) were divided into four groups of four teams each.

 The groups are as follows:

 Group E: Mexico, Panama, Guatemala, Curacao

Group F: USA, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados

Group G: Costa Rica, Jamaica, Cuba, Guadeloupe

Group H: Honduras, Haiti, El Salvador, Suriname

 After group stage play, the top three nations in each group will advance to the knockout stage, joining the four 2022 Concacaf U-17 Men’s Qualifiers (CU17Q) group winners; Bermuda, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Puerto Rico.

 The four-round knockout stage (round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, and final) will be played in a single-match elimination format and the four semifinalists will qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup Peru 2023.

 Matches will be divided across two venues, the Estadio Nacional Doroteo Guamuch Flores in Guatemala City and the Estadio Pensativo in Antigua.

 The competition’s match schedule will be announced at a later date

Jamaica Reggae Boyz goalkeeper Andre Blake admits to enjoying the encounter against top team Argentina and football great Lionel Messi, despite coming away on the other side of a 3-0 defeat.

After starting the game on the bench, Messi's introduction blew things wide open for La Albiceleste who had already taken a 1-0 lead in the first half courtesy of Julian Alvarez’s 13th-minute strike.

With only 10-minutes to go the Jamaicans seemed set to end their third straight encounter against the South Americans within a one-goal margin, but Messi had other ideas.

Blake initially foiled Messi twice but could not do much against the Paris Saint Germain midfielder’s blast from the top of the area in the 86^th minute or his crafty free-kick three minutes later.

It’s a world-class team that’s the easiest way to put it.  It’s a different ballgame. The quality of play and the speed of play, everything is a different level. But I enjoyed every moment of it, and it was a great experience,” Blake told the Philadelphia Enquirer.

“He’s the best in the world,” Blake said in his assessment of Messi.

“I wish I was able to make those saves, but world-class players do world-class things. … it was definitely an honour and a moment I’ll cherish forever — not the moment that he scored, but being able to play against him and save a few of his shots.”

Dinthill Technical hammered Ewarton 10-0 at home to maintain their perfect run in the ISSA/Digicel daCosta Cup on Wednesday.

Dinthill now have six wins from six games and lead Zone K with 18 points, three more than Charlemont who secured their own home win, 3-1 over Enid Bennett. McGrath are third on 12 points thanks to a 5-1 win over Guys Hill at Tacky High.

Paul Bogle High joined Dinthill in the unbeaten club thanks to a massive 12-0 hammering of Robert Lightbourne at home. They also have a perfect 18 points from six outings in Zone L. Yallahs are a distant second on 10 points after a 1-1 home draw with Seaforth while St. Thomas Tech and Morant Bay played out a 2-2 draw at the Eastern Banana Complex.

STETHS have played one less match than Dinthill and Paul Bogle but also have a 100% record in Zone E after a 2-0 win over Lacovia at Lacovia. Munro College are second on 10 points but lost ground on the leaders after suffering an 0-1 defeat at the hands of B.B Coke. Sydney Pagon lost 1-2 to Maggotty at home in Zone E’s other clash.

Manning’s got their fifth win in as many games, a 3-1 home win over Grange Hill, to remain at the top of Zone D. Petersfield, second with 10 points, played out a 0-0 draw with Belmont Academy while, on Tuesday, Godfrey Stewart beat Black River 1-0 at home.

Manchester leads Zone F with 10 points from four games after a 2-2 draw with DeCarteret College at DeCarteret. Bellefield made up ground and now only trail Manchester by three points after a 3-0 win over May Day at home while Belair are third with six points after a 3-0 win over Mt. St. Joseph at home.

Zone B saw Merlene Ottey suffer a 1-3 home loss to Green Island. On Tuesday, Frome secured a 3-0 over previously unbeaten Rusea’s to take over top spot with nine points from three games and a goal difference 19, six more than Rusea’s who also have nine points.

Browns Town beat Ocho Rios 2-0 in the lone Zone I fixture on Wednesday.

Tacky High took over top spot in Zone J with a 3-1 win over St. Mary High at the Highgate Community Centre to move to 11 points from five games, three more than Horace Clarke who have played one game less. Annotto Bay and St. Mary Tech played out a 2-2 draw at Westmoreland Oval in the other Zone J game.

In other Tuesday results, Irwin beat Cornwall College 2-1 to move to four wins from four games to lead Zone A ahead of Green Pond, who now have seven points from four matches after a 1-1 draw over St. James. Maldon beat Anchovy 4-1 in the other Zone A game. Cornwall currently sit third with six points from their four encounters.

William Knibb maintained their perfect record in Zone C with a comprehensive 10-0 over Herbert Morrison to move to nine points from three games. Joining them with nine points from three games was Cedric Titus who beat Spot Valley 2-1.

Mona High maintained their perfect start to the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup with a 3-1 victory over Wolmer’s Boys at Stadium East on Wednesday.

Mona, after beating the previously undefeated Wolmer’s, now have 15 points from five games and boast an impressive goal difference of 28 having scored 33 goals and conceded just five.

Earlier at Stadium East on Wednesday, Camperdown and Hydel played out a 1-1 draw. Hydel and Camperdown now sit third and fourth in Group E with seven and five points, respectively.

The other Group E fixture saw Kingston High beat Papine 2-1 at home for their first win in five tries.

Jamaica College moved to the top of Group B on goal difference with a 4-0 win over St. Jago at Jamaica College. The 30-time champions now have 10 points, the same amount as St. Catherine High who got a 6-0 win at Cedar Grove. JC has a goal difference of 19 while St. Catherine has a goal difference of 10.

Holy Trinity beat St. Mary’s College 5-1 at Bell Chung Oval in the other Group B encounter.

STATHS are now in a dominant position in Group D after a 6-0 win over Tarrant moved them up to 13 points from five games, six more than second placed Jonathan Grant, who secured a 2-1 win over Norman Manley at Maxfield Park. Dunoon got a 2-1 win over Spanish Town at Excelsior in the other Group D fixture.

Four newcomers - Bradley Ho, Kieran Rush, AJ Wallace, and Alex Young - are included in Jamaica’s 24-man squad, as the Reggae Warriors prepare to make their debut in the Rugby League World Cup.

Fourteen of those selected were part of the squad that qualified for the tournament when winning the 2018 Americas Championship, Jamaica thereby becoming the first-ever Caribbean nation to be included in the competition proper.

The squad is headlined by Betfred Super League stars Michael Lawrence and Ashton Golding from Huddersfield Giants.

Six players from the domestic game are included, five are from Duhaney Park Red Sharks that recently won the National Club Championship Grand Final for the eighth time in 16 seasons, along with former Excelsior Community College speedster Abevia McDonald, who now plays at London Skolars.

Also selected are brothers Aaron and Ben Jones-Bishop, the former becoming Cornwall RLFC’s first international representative.

“We are excited to mix it with the best players in the world and everyone is ready to give their all. We encourage everyone to get behind this team and join us on what should be a terrific as well as historic journey,” said head coach Romeo Monteith.

“We first made our international debut in 2009, and to have qualified for a World Cup less than 10 years later, speaks to our commitment and tenacity.

“We are in a very tough group, but our aim is to give a good account of ourselves. The World Cup is the pinnacle of the game, and we hope this will be the first of many appearances.”

The Reggae Warriors are drawn in Group C and will face Ireland at Headingley, Leeds (October 16), 2008 World Cup winner New Zealand at the MKM Stadium, Hull (October 22) and Lebanon at Leigh Sports Village (October 30).

Two teams from each group will not only advance to the quarter-finals but will also book their ticket to the 2025 Rugby League World Cup to be staged in France.

The local contingent will depart the island on Saturday 1 October, and, in a warm-up match, the Jamaicans will face Cumbria on October 7 in Workington.

JAMAICA 24-MAN SQUAD

Greg Johnson (Batley Bulldogs), AJ Wallace (Bradford Bulls), Aaron Jones-Bishop (Cornwall RLFC), Ross Peltier, Keenen Tomlinson (Dewsbury Rams), Chevaughn Bailey, Khamisi Mckain, Andrew Simpson, Marvin Thompson, Renaldo Wade (Duhaney Park Red Sharks), James Woodburn-Hall (Halifax Panthers) Ashton Golding, Michael Lawrence, Kieran Rush (Huddersfield Giants), Bradley Ho, Mo Agoro, (Keighley Cougars),  Abevia McDonald (London Skolars) Joel Farrell, Ben Jones-Bishop (Sheffield Eagles), Joe Brown, Alex Young (Workington Town), Jacob Ogden (York City Knights), Jordan Andrade, Jy-Mel Coleman (Unattached).

Lionel Messi should be appreciated by fans of all countries at the World Cup as he will be missed like Roger Federer "and more" when he retires, says Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni.

Messi scored twice from the bench in Argentina's 3-0 win over Jamaica on Tuesday, their penultimate friendly before Qatar 2022.

The Albiceleste head to the finals as one of the favourites, having won the Copa America last year.

That was Messi's long-awaited first major international honour, and this could be the 35-year-old's last chance to win a World Cup, having lost in the 2014 final.

Although the Paris Saint-Germain superstar remains on top of his game, scoring six goals across his past four matches for club and country, Scaloni knows he cannot go on forever.

And the Argentina boss expects Messi's eventual retirement will be received with the same outpouring that met tennis legend Federer's decision to quit the sport last week.

"[Messi] is like Federer," Scaloni said after the Jamaica game.

"He retired and what happened when he retired? Everybody [was] excited, everybody is thinking, 'he won't be here anymore, he's not going to play anymore'.

"How many of us would like to see Federer play tennis? Because it was wonderful to watch him play. The same will happen with [Messi] and more, because football is a sport that moves much more.

"So, let's enjoy him. Everyone enjoys him regardless of the country, it's wonderful to see him.

"I have the possibility of training him, but I would be a fan, I would pay a ticket to see him and I would buy his shirt, regardless of the country.

"So, the only thing left is to enjoy him, because I don't know if something like this will ever be repeated. So, you have to enjoy him and nothing else."

Newly appointed Jamaica Reggae Boyz head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson believes a 3-0 scoreline might have flattered Argentina, insisting his team was made to pay for a loss in concentration in the defeat at the Red Bull stadium on Tuesday.

Argentinean superstar Lionel Messi came off the bench to score twice as the Albiceleste, who, in truth, looked comfortable despite holding a slim 1-0 lead, blew the game wide open in the last 10 minutes.

By the time the world-famous number 10 entered the fray, in the 56^th minute, Argentina were already 1-0 up courtesy of Julian Alvarez’s tidy finish in the 13^th minute. from there they had struggled to find real goalscoring momentum, that is until Messi entered the pitch.

After stinging the palms of Jamaica goalkeeper Andre Blake with an early attempt, the forward made no mistake blasting his shot well to the left of the keeper, when he got another opportunity, to double the lead in the 86^th minute.  However, sloppy play in midfield led to the dangerous player taking possession at the edge of the area.

Three minutes later, there was real anxiety when the wily forward was brought down just at the top of the 18-yard box.  Those concerns were proven valid when Messi picked himself up and scored the resulting free-kick.  Again the Jamaicans might well feel dissatisfied with their defensive play, as Messi found space through a somewhat disheveled wall to beat Blake again.  The match was the first for Hallgrimsson and he believes despite the errors they were a few positives.

“We lost 3-0 and you are never happy to lose.  Three, zero is a big number but I don’t think it reflects the game on a whole,” Hallgrimsson said.

“It does not reflect the performance of our players, I think we showed an excellent team performance for 80 minutes and we lost a little focus in possession that led to the first and the second goal and then from that lost more focus for the third goal and that cannot happen,” he added.

“Those were the negatives from the match.  We kept them from creating goal-scoring chances, more or less, until the 80^th minute.  After 10 minutes we were finding our feet but after that, we were comfortable with how we played our defensive game.”

Argentina were never in any danger during their 3-0 friendly win against Jamaica on Tuesday, played at a neutral site in the United States' Red Bull Arena.

Alvarez opened the scoring in the 13th minute thanks to some terrific work from Lautaro Martinez, who was able to snake his way into the box, beating multiple defenders to get to the touchline and drag one back along the edge of the six-yard box for a simple tap-in.

Argentina continued to create half-chances throughout the remainder of the first half, and it was more of the same to begin the second 45, with Martinez going close after a slick one-touch pass from Alexis Mac Allister gave him some space inside the box, but he pushed his shot wide of the far-post.

Lionel Messi was subbed on in the 56th minute, and just 10 minutes later he had his first chance after a one-two on the edge of the area allowed him to break into the left-hand side of the box, but his shot from a sharp angle was easily thwarted at the near post.

But fans in attendance would get what they came for in the 87th minute, when Messi picked up a deflected pass just outside the penalty area and fired his left-foot shot hard and low across his body into the bottom-right corner.

Just two minutes later Argentina were awarded a free kick in the same spot, and Messi again converted, this time around the wall into the bottom-left corner.

What does it mean? Argentina now two games away from history

With this result, Argentina are now unbeaten in their past 35 games dating back to their loss in the 2019 Copa America semi-final against Brazil. 

Italy holds the record at 37 games without a loss – which they set just last year. Argentina's next two games will be in the World Cup against Saudi Arabia and Mexico, and if they make it through unscathed, they will play Poland for the new record.

Messi the super sub

Despite only playing 35 minutes, Messi led all players with five shots, four shots on target and three successful dribbles. Only Alvarez (three) created more chances than Messi's two, and he scored two goals for his second consecutive international fixture after also netting a double against Honduras this past weekend.

Reid struggles with Argentinian physicality

Bobby Reid had a difficult outing down the left-hand side, being credited with only two duels won from 11 tries – the lowest percentage on the pitch. He also had a passing accuracy of 77 per cent, which was one of the lowest marks from either side, while attempting no shots and creating no chances.

What's next? 

Argentina will take their unbeaten streak into the World Cup, where they will play Saudi Arabia first up. Jamaica do not have any fixtures scheduled until March's CONCACAF Nations League.

 Jamaica Reggae Boy forward Leon Bailey is convinced the unit can produce plenty of quality once they get things right, but admittedly expects a tough outing against Argentina.

The Jamaicans will clash with Argentina, at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, for only the fourth time in the team’s history and the debut outing for new head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson, who officially took over the post last week.

The Reggae Boyz have lost all three previous encounters but performed creditably in the team’s last meeting at the 2015 Copa America Centenario, where they narrowly lost 1-0 to the Lionel Messi-led outfit.  Bailey is looking forward to his first taste of the high-profile fixture.

“There are a lot of quality players in the team, we just need to put together, obviously it’s a system that the coach will be improvising but we should be able to do good things and hopefully come away with a result,” Bailey said.

“It’s going to be a good game, the first game for the manager as well, but it should be exciting for everybody playing against a good opponent and I think we just have to be focused and work hard for the whole game.”

Reggae Boyz starting line-up

Andre Blake

Leon Bailey

Daniel Johnson

Ravel Morrison

Shamar Nicholson

Bobby Reid

Damion Lowe

Michael Antonio

Adrian Mariappa

Javain Brown

Amari'i Bell

Jamaican Olympic and World Champion Veronica Campbell Brown is now a mother of two after giving birth to her son, Zane Lucas Brown, on September 20.

Campbell Brown, who also has a daughter with husband and fellow former sprinter Omar Brown, made the announcement on her Instagram page on Tuesday.

Campbell Brown, 40, won back-to-back Olympic 200m gold medals in Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008 as well as a 100m gold medal at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka. She also won 200m World Championship gold in 2011 in Daegu.