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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>Milutinovic heralds new era with famous victory</SPAN>
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Friday, February 23, 2007
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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=139 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description></SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>New technical director Bora Milutinovic began his Jamaican football era on a winning note when his side beat China 5-4 on penalties to win the 2007 Lunar New Year Cup here at the Hong Kong National Stadium on Wednesday.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Goalkeeper Allien Whittaker and debutant Donovan Davis were the heroes as the Boyz topped the four-team tournament after holding China to a 0-0 result at the end of full and extra times.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Australia won the third-place play-off 5-3 on penalties over the Hong Kong League XI, after the teams ended 2-2 following regulation time.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Davis, a 21-year-old St George's player, kept his nerves to put away Jamaica's sixth penalty with aplomb after Adrian Reid, Jermaine Taylor, Whittaker and Lovel Palmer had scored during the mandatory five spot kicks.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Nicholy Finlayson blasted the first spot kick over the bar.
And Whittaker, who had been kept in the senior international wilderness for years, showed his mettle in a man-of-the-match performance with saves on the fourth and sixth shots.
"This success is not for me, it is for the team," noted a happy Bora at game's end.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"This is very important, the team is always first," added the Serb, who was winning this trophy for the fourth time.
"It was very important that the players showed good attitude. They gave big effort and they played like a team. They were very disciplined inside and outside the field."<P class=StoryText align=justify>The Serbian coach also noted that despite the team not having adequate time to prepare for the tournament, as well as insufficient time to get acclimatised to the conditions in far-away Hong Kong, the commitment of the players was enough to overcome the setbacks.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Whittaker, who played in the Under-17 and Under-20 World Cups, but was saving goal for Jamaica at the senior level for the first time, was very elated and he thought his patience had finally paid off.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Still, he put his penalty saves down to Lady Luck. "It was just the lucky 13," he said, referring to his jersey number, which is significant because it is the age at which he first represented the national youth team.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"McCallum (Richard, who tended goal in the first game) saved a penalty, so I decided that I had to save at least two."
Played under misty conditions in front of about 12,000 spectators, China threatened from the opening whistle, when Hu Hai headed narrowly wide of Whittaker's right-hand post, though the JDF custodian appeared to have had the ball covered, had it posed more of a danger.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The Boyz replied immediately with the best chance of the entire game, but Fabian Taylor stabbed the ball wide on an open goal from close range after good interplay on the left side between Kavin Bryan and Demar Phillips.<P class=StoryText align=justify>China then wrested control of midfield with captain and playmaker Zhou Haibin spraying passes repeatedly down the flanks, especially the right, which was made easier by the inexperienced Mario Swaby at left back.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Though they mainlanders got the ball wide, the Jamaican defence marshalled by Jermaine Taylor proved equal to the task.<
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>
Friday, February 23, 2007
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=139 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description></SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>New technical director Bora Milutinovic began his Jamaican football era on a winning note when his side beat China 5-4 on penalties to win the 2007 Lunar New Year Cup here at the Hong Kong National Stadium on Wednesday.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Goalkeeper Allien Whittaker and debutant Donovan Davis were the heroes as the Boyz topped the four-team tournament after holding China to a 0-0 result at the end of full and extra times.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Australia won the third-place play-off 5-3 on penalties over the Hong Kong League XI, after the teams ended 2-2 following regulation time.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Davis, a 21-year-old St George's player, kept his nerves to put away Jamaica's sixth penalty with aplomb after Adrian Reid, Jermaine Taylor, Whittaker and Lovel Palmer had scored during the mandatory five spot kicks.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Nicholy Finlayson blasted the first spot kick over the bar.And Whittaker, who had been kept in the senior international wilderness for years, showed his mettle in a man-of-the-match performance with saves on the fourth and sixth shots.
"This success is not for me, it is for the team," noted a happy Bora at game's end.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"This is very important, the team is always first," added the Serb, who was winning this trophy for the fourth time.
"It was very important that the players showed good attitude. They gave big effort and they played like a team. They were very disciplined inside and outside the field."<P class=StoryText align=justify>The Serbian coach also noted that despite the team not having adequate time to prepare for the tournament, as well as insufficient time to get acclimatised to the conditions in far-away Hong Kong, the commitment of the players was enough to overcome the setbacks.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Whittaker, who played in the Under-17 and Under-20 World Cups, but was saving goal for Jamaica at the senior level for the first time, was very elated and he thought his patience had finally paid off.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Still, he put his penalty saves down to Lady Luck. "It was just the lucky 13," he said, referring to his jersey number, which is significant because it is the age at which he first represented the national youth team.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"McCallum (Richard, who tended goal in the first game) saved a penalty, so I decided that I had to save at least two."
Played under misty conditions in front of about 12,000 spectators, China threatened from the opening whistle, when Hu Hai headed narrowly wide of Whittaker's right-hand post, though the JDF custodian appeared to have had the ball covered, had it posed more of a danger.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The Boyz replied immediately with the best chance of the entire game, but Fabian Taylor stabbed the ball wide on an open goal from close range after good interplay on the left side between Kavin Bryan and Demar Phillips.<P class=StoryText align=justify>China then wrested control of midfield with captain and playmaker Zhou Haibin spraying passes repeatedly down the flanks, especially the right, which was made easier by the inexperienced Mario Swaby at left back.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Though they mainlanders got the ball wide, the Jamaican defence marshalled by Jermaine Taylor proved equal to the task.<
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