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IT LOOKED much like a bar-room brawl, minus the bar. And it took two loud gunshots to restore control after Sunday’s Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Caribbean Club Champions Cup match between Trinidad and Tobago’s San Juan Jabloteh and River Plate of Puerto Rico erupted into an all-out battle unlike anything seen in local football before.
Jabloteh had just won 1-0 on a 65th minute Jason Marcano goal when River Plate attacked a couple of their players at the end of the match at the Larry Gomes Stadium, Malabar.
The fracas overshadowed Joe Public’s 3-1 victory over System 3 in the later match, which ensured that both T&T clubs advanced to the April 28 - May 10 CFU final round, along with Puerto Rican clubs Bayamon FC and Puerto Rico Islanders.
Throughout the 90 minutes, Jamaican referee Courtney Campbell had a tough time controlling a heated match, which was laden with heavy tackles. And as a consequence, both River Plate’s Maximiliano Vallejo (44th) and Raul Osvaldo Ruiz (78th) received red cards and were sent off, along with Jabloteh striker Cyrano Glen (72nd).
But, the real action took place at the end of the match, when an enraged River Plate, with nine Argentines in their starting line-up, attacked both Jabloteh’s Marvin Oliver and goalie Cleon John, who was involved in Ruiz’s dismissal. At one point, Jabloteh central defender Karlon Murray seemed to be running for his life, pursued as he was by half a dozen River Plate men before his Jabloteh teammate Jason Marcano came to his rescue.
River Plate footballers also attacked the local security firm that tried to restore control and the situation only finally settled down after two shots were fired in the air.
Earlier, it also looked like a fight would start within the Jabloteh ranks when their English head coach Terry Fenwick appeared to ’clout’ his striker Cyrano Glen on the head for being sent off. Glen retaliated by swinging his arms at Fenwick, and the two men appeared to square off for a moment before the tension subsided.
Present to witness the fracas was Trinidad and Tobago’s Neville Ferguson, the acting general secretary of the Caribbean Football Union.
’I strongly think that there will be action,’ Ferguson declared, when asked about the likely consequences of the brawl. ’We have a disciplinary committee which will look at the matter after we have received an official report on the match.’
Before the heated exchange, the match between Jabloteh and River Plate was settled by Marcano’s powerful right-footer after he was put through the centre of the penalty area by Oliver’s through ball.
River Plate were already down a man-before the first half ended-after Ruiz was sent off for a stamp on Jabloteh midfielder Atullah Guerra. And after going behind, the Puerto Rican team became further enraged when Ruiz went at keeper John with studs showing and was given a red card. Taking evasive action, keeper John seemed to put out an elbow at the River Plate midfielder, who was taken off on a stretcher, but not before referee Campbell issued him a red card.
All the drama overshadowed Joe Public’s comfortable victory over System 3 of St Vincent and the Grenadines who they beat 3-1 despite losing central defender Radanfah Abu Bakr, who was sent off in the 55th after stopping striker Akeeno Hazelwood’s clear run on goal.
Joe Public were into a two goal-lead and looked in total control at the end of the first half. Top striker Kerry Baptiste had them in front in just the sixth minute after taking Gorean Highley’s cross in the centre of goal and hitting the ball past keeper Ronel Hunte.
Midfielder Trent Noel then made it 2-0 in the 42nd minute when he forced his way into the penalty area and hit a low shot into goal. The ’Eastern Lions’ lost central defender Abu Bakr after he grabbed at the collar of Akeeno Hazelwood, who outpaced him just inside the penalty box. Narel George hit a low penalty past the dive of keeper Marvin Phillip in the 56th to reduce the score to 2-1.
However, Joe Public always looked the better team and in the 83rd, national Under-20 midfielder Marcus Joseph restored their two-goal advantage, when he faked a defender and hit home a powerful left-footer from the centre of the penalty area.
CFU CLUB CHAMPIONS
CUP RESULTS:
San Juan Jabloteh 1 (Jason Marcano 65th) vs River Plate 0
Joe Public FC 3 (Kerry Baptiste 6th; Trent Noel, 42nd; Marcus Joseph 83rd) vs Systems Three 1 (Penalty-Narel George 56th).
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