Defending champions San Juan Jabloteh strolled into the Toyota Classic Competition quarter-final round this evening with a comprehensive 5-0 spanking of Defence Force’s Super League squad at the Larry Gomes Stadium, Malabar.
The soldiers never dropped their heads but they were hopelessly outmatched and must have spent much of the last half hour praying for the final whistle.
There are different opinions of what constitutes sport—as anyone who has covered slugs with salt or spent an afternoon relieving rain flies of their wings falls might admit. And those fans of a good mauling would have been royally entertained in Malabar yesterday.
“Target practice allyuh!” yelled an excited Jabloteh supporter, as a Noel Williams effort shook the Defence Force crossbar. “Is food we get!”
It is certainly true that Jabloteh have not enjoyed many free meals this season.
Four trophies have been distributed already this year—including the Caribbean Club Championship crown—and yet the “San Juan Kings” remain empty headed. The year, 2009, started with a stunning blow as Jabloteh’s title sponsor, CL Financial, crumbled while the subsequent departures of former head coach Terry Fenwick and several key players including ex-captain and 2008 Pro League Player of the Year, Trent Noel, might have increased their sense of loss.
Thirty-eight-year-old rookie Jabloteh coach Earl Jean pointed to his team’s qualification for the 2010 Caribbean Club Championship as an important achievement for this season. But Jean admitted his desire for a trophy.
“We qualified for CONCACAF for next year,” the former St Lucia international told the TnT Times, “but we want to come out of this season with something. We cannot afford to bask in past glories.”
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