Even though they have to make do with competing in the second-tier club competition in CONCACAF, both coaches of Arnett Gardens and Portmore United are nonetheless relishing the opportunity to strut their stuff on the international stage.

Both Jamaican clubs would have preferred to be contesting the prestigious CONCACAF Scotiabank Champions League, but missed out on that opportunity when they failed to lift the crown of the FLOW CONCACAF Caribbean Championship staged at Arnett's Anthony Spaulding home ground recently.

The home team had to settle for the runner-up spot after losing 6-5 on penalties to the Dominican Republic outfit Club Atletico Pantoja.

Portmore ended third in the tournament, edging Trinidad and Tobago's Central FC 2-1.

At the Scotiabank CONCACAF League draw in Miami last week, Arnett Gardens were drawn to face Panamanian outfit Club Deportivo Arabe Unido, while current Red Stripe Premier League champion Portmore were selected to get the ball rolling against Costa Rica's AD Santos de Guapiles, the 2017 beaten finalists.

Arnett Gardens head coach Jerome Waite, who attended the Miami draw event, believes there is a lot to be gained playing in the CONCACAF League, and that it sets the stage for young players to showcase their talent.

“Teams here will know that they can not only compete for the Champions League, but the second-tier Concacaf League and add to that, you can also get good prize money.

“Now that we have so many competitions being put forward in our region [it] can only help development and give many players in our region the opportunity to advance themselves. It goes without saying that the more you play outside of your country at a higher level, the more your players will improve,” the coach told the Jamaica Observer recently.

Waite, who has led the south St Andrew-based club to their last Premier League title in 2016/2017 season, supports the view that regional clubs and national teams have seen more opportunities at development with CONCACAF's new subregional and confederation-wide competitions.

“Concacaf is really doing a good job, and the Nations League coming up for the national teams throughout the region is something that will be electrifying because everybody will be given an opportunity to be a part of it.

“This, plus the Caribbean Club Shield, the Caribbean Cup, the Concacaf Championships League and the Concacaf League, is all good for our region, as the more competitions put forward can only be good for our football,” said Waite, Jamaica's assistant senior men's coach.

He said Arnett's opponent emerging from the CONCACAF League draw last Wednesday is “no doubt one of the strongest teams in this Concacaf competition”.

Portmore, meantime, are qualifying for their second-consecutive Concacaf League. The successful Jamaican club, competing in the inaugural staging of the knockout competition, went down to Panama's Plaza Amador in the first round.

Now, the Shavar Thomas-coached club faces another tough test as it is pitted against AD Santos de Guapiles of Costa Rica.

“As I have been saying over the weeks, when you are playing in international club competition at this stage there are no walkover teams.

“We are relishing the challenge and our players will be ready when we come up against them in terms of our preparation, as this is the type of competitions we want to play year in, year out,” said the former Reggae Boyz captain.

Thomas argued that participating in the CONCACAF League is in keeping with the club's goal of spreading its wings in creating the stage from which its players can market themselves.

“This is the platform we can showcase our talent and the quality we possess at Portmore, and it is a big stage for the club as well to showcase what we have here in Jamaica,” he noted.

Honduran club Olimpia is the defending CONCACAF League champions, getting the better of Santos de Guapiles 4-1 on penalties in the final.

Organisers were predicting a successful hosting of the Ali Cole Cup during yesterday's launch of the pre-season schoolboy football competition at Excelsior High School's auditorium.

The invitational tournament is in honour of former Excelsior Manning Cup football captain Allan “Ali” Cole, who died suddenly last year. Ali Cole is the son of former Jamaica football standout Allan “Skill” Cole.

This year's event, to be hosted at the Mountain View Avenue-based school on July 13 and 14, is set to feature Zone A schools Excelsior, Camperdown High, Kingston High and Dunoon Technical. Zone B features Holy Trinity High, Papine High, Clan Carthy High and Vauxhall High.

Deanroy Bromfield, principal of Excelsior, said that the nature of the tournament epitomises Cole's personality.

“I think it is such a wonderful initiative, and I'm sure it will be a great tournament. But even more than being a great tournament is the objective of this initiative, which is to develop these youngsters through sports. It is characteristic of Ali Cole, it's a characteristic of what Excelsior stands for — that we share what we have,” Bromfield told the Jamaica Observer.

He explained that effort was made to focus primarily on non-traditional institutions located in eastern and central sections of Kingston.

“There's also the giving back to other schools in our immediate community, and to schools that would not normally have been at the forefront in sports. We are happy and we expect this to continue for years to come and that it will become a signature event on the football calendar,” said the Excelsior principal.

“From last year we were looking for something like this… it's a dream come true for schools like ours,” said Holy Trinity football coach Devon Anderson, while noting that yesterday marked the birthday of Jordan Foote, the Holy Trinity schoolboy footballer who died in 2016 after suffering from bone cancer.

Anderson added that the Ali Cole Cup will aid his team's preparation for the new football season set to start in September.

“It is very vital for us. Over the years we have been to tournaments outside of Kingston, but this one is an additional one to help prepare us to win the Manning Cup,” he said.

The Holy Trinity coach, who has seen his school being consistently raided for talent by other schools in recent years, said he is unfazed by the possibility of having his players scouted during the pre-season tournament.

“Holy Trinity is always exposed, whether it's during training or pre-season football, but we don't worry because we have, like, a nursery down there, so what we keep we can make well with it,” Anderson said.

The preliminary stage of the Ali Cole Cup, set for July 13, will feature games lasting 50 minutes instead of the standard 90 minutes. The top two teams from each zone will advance to the semi-finals. Games in the semi-final stage, slated for July 14, are scheduled to last 70 minutes, while the final is set for 80 minutes.

An exhibition encounter between Excelsior Masters and Lions United/Unsung Ones All Stars will follow the Ali Cole Cup final.

Dunbeholden FC demonstrated resilience when they had a come-from-behind 2-1 win against the highly fancied Mount Pleasant Football Academy in the Magnum/Charley's JB/Jamaica Football Federation promotion play-off series opening round at the Dunbeholden Sports Complex in St Catherine yesterday.

Mount Pleasant came out on the front foot and took the lead when striker Kesslan Hall fired past Dunbeholden's goalkeeper, Geovanni Smith, in the 20th minute. However, the home side fought back with two goals inside two minutes. Kevin Reid found the equaliser in the 26th minute, and the outstanding Jerome Wedderburn got the winning goal in the 28th minute.

South Central Confederation champions, Dunbeholden started slowly but picked up momentum. Mount Pleasant, who won the Eastern Confederation, were shabby in defence and paid the price.

The margin of victory could have been wider had it not been for faulty shooting, especially from Lorenzo Dubidad. Dunbeholden was the better-organised team and deserved to win the game.

Coach of Dunbeholden Michael 'Richie' Cohen described the victory as "overwhelming".

"It is an overwhelming feeling to win our first game in the play-off series. We represented well. The team started slowly and went behind but found the equaliser and winner," Cohen told The Gleaner immediately after the game.

 

GUTSY PERFORMANCE
 

The coach said they came into the game as underdogs and praised his players for what he described as a gutsy performance.

"We are orphans as the other teams have mothers and fathers," Cohen said, alluding to the other three teams' financial support. "We will take it one game at a time because everyone competing in the play-off are champions, so we respect the other teams."

"Our next game is away, so the focus is now on that one. We missed some chances, especially in the second half, but I am pleased, 100 per cent, with the fighting spirit of the team today," Cohen shared.

Mount Pleasant's head coach, Paul 'Tegat' Davis, said it was a hard loss due to mistakes at the back.

"It was a tough loss. Nobody wants to lose their opening game, but it was on the road, so we will go back home and get ready for the next game," Davis, a former national senior team striker, said.

"We gave up two silly goals quickly after taking the lead and never recovered from that. We could not find any momentum, and it became difficult. We kept on making errors, and it cost us the whole game. We will just have to work on that for the next game," he added.

Football on the UP, and setting the pace is Mount Pleasant Football Academy

We are there again.

The JFF has appointed Andrew Price as an Assistant Coach of the Jamaica National Senior Women's team, with the responsibility of preparing the local based players. Coach Price in 2017 coached Jamaica's National Women's Beach Football team to a silver medal at the Youth Commonwealth Games in the Bahamas.

Experienced coaches Hue Menzies and Lorne Donaldson will continue to be the Head Coach and Assistant Coach respectively of the team.

Jamaica's National Senior Women's team will enter the World Cup Qualifying journey when the CONCACAF Caribbean Women's Qualifiers begin in May 2018. #JFFLive #ReggaeBoyz #ReggaeFootball #ReggaeGirlz#StillOnTheBall

Leon Bailey, Bayer Leverkusen
Games played: 16 
Goals: 7 
Assists: 5 
Successful dribbles/Attempted: 45/89
“We bought him with an eye on 2017/18,” said Leverkusen sporting director Rudi Völler shortly after Bailey had put pen to paper on a five-and-a-half-year deal just over a year ago. The former Germany striker and coach has been proven right, and stunningly so.
Bailey’s 2016/17 stats mean little — he played just 133 minutes after his winter move from Genk — but his Bundesliga aperitif means he has been able to hit the ground running in 2017/18, and he has done so. Fast, very fast. The speed gun caught the jet-heeled Jamaican at 21.12mph, but more eye-catchingly still, Bailey has proven to be more than just quick.


A tally of seven league goals puts him second only to Kevin Volland (with 10) in the high-performing Leverkusen squad, while just six players in the entire Bundesliga have been involved in more goals for their teams than Bailey, who has also registered an impressive five assists.
His stats are thanks in large part to his pace — he has put the finishing touch to two counter-attacks — and an in-built clinical streak that means he is frugal but effective with his shots, finding the net every six attempts on goal, the best ratio of the quartet highlighted here. That ruthless streak also applies when he has been called on to change a game coming off the bench: three Jokertoren are testament to that.
He has an eye for the spectacular — want proof? Check out his impish backheel against Hoffenheim — and a handy knack for performing in big games, as witnessed by his Matchday 19 strike that adds to goals in matches against top-four rivals Schalke and Rheinland neighbours Cologne and Borussia Mönchengladbach. Aged just 20, the most exciting thing about Bailey is that the best is surely yet to come.

Source

Jamaican former footballer Allan "Skill" Cole is mourning the death of his son, Allan Cole Jr who died suddenly on Monday morning.

"I can't talk about it now, it is too painful to deal with, maybe another time," the senior Allan Cole told Loop Jamaica reporter Claude Mills on Monday evening.

Music insider Bridget Anderson said Cole Jr's son found him lying on the ground, unresponsive. He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

It is being speculated that Cole Jr died of a heart attack, but family members and friends are awaiting the results of an autopsy to confirm the cause of death.

"He was my brother, not my blood brother but a great friend. We have to wait on the autopsy to find out how he died. This is so tragic," Anderson said.

Sharing in his father's passion for football, Cole Jr, popularly known as "Ali", is a former captain of the Excelsior High Manning Cup team and played alongside Jamaican football legend Walter Boyd.

There have been an outpouring of tributes to Cole Jr since news of his death broke.

"Condolences to a very good friend of mine Mr Allan ' Skill ' Cole on the loss of his son Allan Cole Jr aka ' Ali' who is a school mate of mine and a very good friend also. Heart attack at such a young age it's sad to lose you in such a way but it's just the way life is," one man wrote on Facebook.

An Excelsior High past student, who was apparently a close friend of the deceased, wrote in a school community page on Facebook: "It was on Saturday I spoke to you never knowing that would be last time I would see you. I pray that your soul May rest in peace Allan "Ally" Cole Jr. Your presence will be truly missed."

Cole snr was a confidante and manager of late reggae legend Bob Marley.

A determined Cedric Titus High team pushed 2015 champions St Elizabeth Technical (STETHS) all the way before falling 3-2 in the ISSA/FLOW daCosta Cup at Jarrett Park yesterday.

The third seeded STETHS were a bit lacklustre in their overall performance against a team that was drafted as the 30th seed. Coach Omar 'Rambo' Wedderburn said his boys gave a relaxed performance that almost cost them.

"I think we gave a relaxed performance while the Cedric Titus team came out to play. This result will make Saturday's game interesting. We have seen what they had to offer today and this will motivate us to play better come Saturday," said Wedderburn.

Coach of Cedric Titus, Delroy Delisser, believes his team has what it takes to overhaul STETHS and added that they have nothing to lose come Saturday.

"We gave up two soft goals, but I think we came out in the second half and really gave it a shot. This just shows people out there that Cedric Titus is not just here to participate. We are a team to compete, so we just have to go back, start all over again and prepare ourselves for Saturday," Delisser said.

STETHS started the game in commanding fashion, and Shemar Murray opened the scoring in the 30th minute. Five minutes later, Demani Henderson made it 2-0. Cedric Titus coach Delroy Delisser threw Triston Warren into action after conceding the second goal and this shifted the momentum in their favour.

Within a minute, Warren made a brilliant run getting and scored in the 38th minute. Then Demani Henderson scored a minute before half-time, to put STETHS back on a two-goal cushion.

Cedric Titus came out for the second half a very composed team and Kyle Marshall pulled a goal back in the 54th minute. Action swung from end to end throughout the second half, but the score remained at 3-2.

Yesterday's results

- Oracabessa 1, Glenmuir 2

- Manchester 7, Ewarton 1

- Dinthill 1, Bellefield 1

- St Mary Technical 0, Steer Town 1

- Spot Valley 2, Fair Prospect 2

- Paul Bogle 1, Holmwood 2

- Frome 1, Munro 0

- Morant Bay 1, Cornwall College 4

- Green Island 1, Clarendon College 5