St. Kitts and Nevis wins Zone Six Caribbean Cup First Round…moves on to Semi-finals.

(Source: Miyvue.com)Basseterre, St. Kitts, 8th September, 2014, (MiyVue.com) – The Sugar Boyz showed why they are one of the top teams in this year’s CFU Caribbean Cup competition, when they closed out the first round action with a 2-nil victory over a depleted and lackluster Guyana team at Warner Park last evening.

The home team was the only undefeated team in the three days of matches.

Going into their final game knowing any result other than a 6-0 drubbing at the hands of the Guyanese would still guarantee them a spot in semi-finals, there was no letting up from the home boys who delivered the punches needed to see them walk away with seven points, in front of a near capacity crowd.

A goal each from Zephaniah Thomas in the 53rd minute and Captain and MLS player Atiba Harris seven minutes later, booked the trip to Haiti for the Sugar Boyz who are expected to field the same squad for the semi-final leg of the tournament.

The Golden Jaguars seemed to have had the better of play though in the first half, out-sprinting the St Kitts and Nevis defenders and creating numerous goal scoring opportunities, but none could have broken the deadlock. At times, the Guyanese seemed to have been frustrating the Kittitian/Nevisian defenders.

Heading into the break with the game deadlocked at nil-nil a ‘pep’ talk from the technical and back room staff, spurred new life into the home team, who put up a disappointing first half on the field, much to the disappointment of the thousands gathered.

Meanwhile, for the Guyanese team it was a bitter end to a disappointing tournament for them, but a new beginning for football in the South American country.

The Jaguars which fielded a relative young and inexperienced team is said to be in the rebuilding phase of football in that country. This is according to coach of the Guyana National Team, Denzil Ray Thomas.

In a post-match interview coach of the St Kitts National Team, Jeffery Hazel said that it was a disappointing performance from his team in the first half but they rebounded well with the assistance from the Technical Staff of the SKNFA.

“We had a game plan and they had to execute and we want to thank the technical staff, the SKNFA technical staff for the match analysis they did as well, the back room staff did something’s as well.”

“We have a good bunch of guys in the dressing room… its back to the training ground because we have another group in a month’s time”

He noted that they would be working on moving the ball around “much quicker since we were a bit tardy” and “ shooting” are the major focal point for the team heading into group eight of the Caribbean Cup.

The national coach commended the crowd for their support throughout the three days of competition

Captain Atiba Harris speaking at the post-match interview said his team’s performance was credible as unit and they should be commended as they look towards the semi-final group in Haiti.

“We had the chances earlier in the game but we did not score any… we played well during the course of the first half but then we came out and our technical deficiencies showed.”

Meanwhile, Thomas said he is not worried with the technical deficiencies of the team, since it is a very young and inexperienced under 23 unit that they are currently grooming to be the future stars of Guyana’s football.

“Like I keep saying from day one since I arrived here, this Guyana team is a very young team, the youngest player on this team is 19 years and the oldest is 24 years with the exception of Walter Moore… when they start to mature Guyana is going to get much better and we will see a much better brand of football,” Thomas explained.

In the night’s other game St Lucia booked their trip to Trinidad by qualifying second from group 6, after seeing off a young Dominican team 2-nil. Dominica too is said to be rebuilding their country’s national team.

On the opening night, St. Kitts drew nil all with St. Lucia and on Friday 5th September they defeated Dominica 5-nil.

– See more at: http://miyvue.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19024:st-kitts-and-nevis-wins-zone-six-caribbean-cup-first-roundmoves-on-to-semi-finals&catid=42:rokstories&Itemid=109#sthash.EU3DqBN2.dpuf