Tears of joy from coach McCommie.
T&T Guardian Reports.[/size]
Coach of newly crowned champions bmobile Joe Public, Michael McCommie, was lost for words and even shed a few tears when striker Gary Glasgow referred to him as a “father figure.”
The Eastern Lions won the T&T Pro League title on Saturday night at the Ato Boldon Stadium even though they lost 3-1 to Vibe CT 105 W Connection, who needed to win by three clear goals to retain the title.
Both teams ended on 65 points, but the Macoya-based powerhouses ended with a better goal difference.
McCommie, 33, joked about Glasgow’s remark.” Being considered a father figure made me feel a bit old,” he said.
He said “It's good to be acknowledged in such a way from the players’ standpoint. I have a great bunch of guys around me. I am really happy and feeling very proud of this team. The only other time I felt this happy was when we qualified for the World Cup in Germany.”
Despite winning the league for the first time, McCommie said he was not going to sit back and relax, but will be focusing on the 2007 season.
The former T&T goalkeeper praised Joe Public owner Austin Jack Warner and the Board of Directors of the club for providing him with the necessary resources that eventually led to the team’s success.
“Over the last two to three weeks we have been putting the team together again. We leave Trinidad soon to take part in a tournament in Guyana. The directors and owners of the club have given me a free hand on this team.”
“This side was hand-selected by me, everything was given to me in terms of resources for preparations straight through the season.
There were many things in my programme not budgeted for, and at no point in time those in authority refused my proposals for going to camp or an overseas trip,” said McCommie.
He reiterated the motive of the club :to develop footballers, regardless of their nationality and who they represented.
McCommie said when he joined Joe Public the players did not have the right attitude and lacked professionalism.
“The players have begun to understand how important it is to have commitment and discipline. It is important that my players are on the same page with me and they understand things. Everyday is not going to be a good training day, not everyday I am going to be nice to them.
‘At the end of the day if I shout at them, they respond positively because they know that I am aware that they can do better.
“I was a bit concerned about our players being overconfident at the beginning of the season. The players on my bench can play for any team in Trinidad and Tobago at the professional level, but they all settled down and played some very good football this season.”
Joe Public by a goal.
By: Ian Prescott (Express).[/size]
"It was disappointing that people did not turn up because this was probably the best game of the season."
Coach Michael McComie's understatement described a thrilling climax to the 2006 T&T Pro League season, which ended with his Joe Public charges losing 3-1 to ten-man Vibe CT 105 W Connection on Saturday night at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva, but still holding on to win the title by the closest of margins from the defending champions.
Their single goal ensured the Eastern Lions secured their first T&T Pro League crown after both teams finished the season with 19 victories and 65 points.
A 3-0 victory would have given W Connection the honours by a goal, while a 2-0 Connection victory would have seen the first-ever dead-heat. Instead, the title was won by the single goal which Jamaican Roen Nelson scored on the night which ensured that Joe Public finished with 59 goals scored and just 23 against.
W Connection also scored 59 goals this season, but Nelson's item was the 24th they conceded.
W Connection not only lost the $350,000 T&T Pro League first prize, but missed out on the $40,000 up for grabs in the season-ending Lucozade Sport Big Six competition, which CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh sewed up when they whipped North East Stars 4-1 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, also on Saturday.
Jabloteh finished with 12 points from four victories and a single defeat, to W Connection (1-0), in five matches, while unbeaten Connection were second on 11 points, from three wins and two draws.
Saturday's thrilling final results might not have been possible except for a desperate late save with his foot by Joe Public's Jamaican international goalkeeper Jacamento Barett, who looked beaten but still managed to kick Andrei Pacheco's downward header off his goal-line in the dying seconds of the match.
Referee Frank Drayton also turned down a W Connection penalty appeal at the final whistle, when keeper Barett's desperate attempts to clear the ball sent opposing players tumbling to the ground.
The game was already turned on its head earlier when Gefferson Da Silva Goulart, W Connection's influential midfielder, was red-carded in the 66th minute for maliciously elbowing an opponent.
The frustration was apparently too much for W Connection youngster Williams Oliviera, who did not play but got involved in a fracas involving the referee after the final whistle. That sparked a wider melee involving Earl Jean and Joe Public's McComie and Lyndon Diaz.
Always outspoken, McComie was not afraid to give his views on the incident.
"Apparently teams are going to all lengths to win," said McComie. "The goal-difference was dramatically reduced because of one team. We were not in the Pro League last year, and Jabloteh suffered the same fate."
McComie was referring to an earlier adjustment of the T&T Pro League standings, which required W Connection to win by three clear goals, instead of five.
"At one point we were not even concerned about playing the final game because we were so clear on goal-difference," added the Joe Public coach.
However, on Saturday night, McComie had a lot to worry about when the entire season's work appeared to be slipping away against W Connection. Also, apparently, was Joe Public owner Jack Warner, who fidgeted in his seat as W Connection piled on the pressure.
Connection owner David John-Williams also noted Warner's apprehension.
"This is the calmest ever match of this kind for me. We have done this before Joe Public have never won anything," said John-Williams, who added that he understood the tension which Warner must have felt.
Afterwards, John-Williams said that while he was disappointed, he was not flabbergasted at losing the title by a single goal.
"I feel the team has shown tremendous character. They are unbeaten in 14 league match and to pull back from eight points behind the league leaders and lose by just a single goal is tremendous. We were under no pressure to win the league because we were blooding a new team."
In contrast, Joe Public looked under pressure from the minute they walked onto the field and the heavy eyes of Warner looked down on them from the stands. Joe Public played scared, but McComie explained it as a strategy to contain the expected early onslaught from the home team.
"We had a plan. At the beginning of the game we wanted to consolidate until the last half hour of the match," he said.
The young coach's best plan fell apart when Jean converted a 17th minute penalty after heading a crossball onto the hand of Joe Public defender Lyndon Diaz.
Goalkeeper Barett also fended off a couple of W Connection chances from his goal to keep the score 1-0 at the half.
But, Joe Public reserves were all jumping at the side of the field and already celebrating winning the league title in the 64th minute when striker Nelson headed in a free-kick at the far post to level the score at 1-1.
The game would have a further twist, though.
First Goulart was sent off in the 66th for his deliberate foul. But it was a blessing in disguise for W Connection, who played better without him and with the introduction of Silvio Spann, the T&T midfielder.
Once Goulart departed, W Connection took a 2-1 lead in the 75th minute when Colombian Christian Viveros rifled in Andrei Pacheco's left side free-kick.
Then, Spann, looking very overweight since returning from injury, converted a low shot from the edge of the penalty area off a defender in the 79th minute to give Connection a 3-1 lead.
Connection went into all-out attack and almost paid the price when goalkeeper Jan Michael Williams was caught upfield after going for a corner kick. Only Pacheco's lunging late tackle stopped Joe Public scoring again on the counter-attack.
For a while, no one appeared sure who had secured the title until Pro League CEO Dexter Skeene informed Joe Public that they had won by a single goal.
That sparked wild celebrations and finally a prayer by Joe Public for winning their first Pro League title. They had previously won the 1998 semi-professional league and two National Super League titles (2004 & 2005).
Teams
Joe Public: - Jacomeno Barett, Lyndon Diaz, Dale Saunders, Lyndon Andrews, Michael-Lee Celestine (Sean Cooper), Gary Glasgow, Roen Nelson, Adrian Mitchell, Abassi Mc Pherson, Dexter Franklyn, Wolry Wolfe (Arnold Dwarika).
W Connection: - Jan Michael Williams, Gefferson Goulart, Kern Cupid, Elijah Joseph, Ronaldo Viana, Earl Jean, Andre Toussaint, Christopher Toussaint, Christopher Harvey, George Isaac (Silvio Spann), Andrei Pacheco, Christian Viveros.
Eastern Lions crowned champs.
T&T Newsday Reports.[/size]
Joe Public, the “Eastern Lions”, completed a fantastic 2006 football season by capturing the Pro League title on Saturday night.
In the final round of the Lucozade Sport-sponsored Big Six tournament, which also served as the last round of play in the League, Joe Public lost 3-1 to W Connection at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva.
But the “Eastern Lions” gained the trophy by virtue of a superior goal difference over the defending champions.
Joe Public, who last won the title in 1998, left the Pro League to compete in the 2004 Super League. The Tunapuna-based squad earned back to back championships before returning to the Pro League fold this year.
But it was the “Savonetta Lads,” needing to win by four clear goals to retain their crown, who got on the scoresheet first in the 17th minute courtesy captain Earl Jean.
The St Lucian blasted a penalty past Jamaican goalkeeper Jacomeno Barrett after defender Lyndon Diaz was called for a handle-ball infringement.
Lanky left-back Diaz would atone for that error by notching the equaliser in the 63rd, slotting home a freekick by veteran midfielder/striker Arnold Dwarika.
Colombian midfielder Christian Viveros restored Connection’s lead in the 70th with a pin-point header, and substitute Silvio Spann drilled a low shot nine minutes later to put the hosts within two goals of stealing the title.
But they were undone by sturdy Joe Public defending, and their own indiscretions, highlighted by Brazilian playmaker Gefferson Goulart who was sent off for dangerous play with 20 minutes remaining.
In another match on Saturday CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh sealed the Lucozade Big Six crown following a 4-1 demolition of North East Stars.
The hero was Peter Prosper who notched a hat-trick in the second match of a double-header at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo.
Prosper opened the scoring after six minutes, after he was sent through on goal by Jason Marcano. But Marc Leslie equalised for North East in the 14th, tapping a loose ball past Jabloteh goalie Daurance Williams.
Prosper ensured that the Big Six title went to San Juan, as he gave Jabloteh the lead for good in the 25th, heading a Marcano centre past ‘keeper Curtis Granger.
And the muscular forward completed his treble in the 64th, again scoring from a cross by the hard-working Marcano.
Anthony Wolfe finished the scoring avalanche in the 79th, burying his penalty after he was brought down by defender Howard Lowe.
In the day’s other contest at Mucurapo, Neal and Massy Caledonia AIA edged Superstar Rangers 2-1.
Kendall Jagdeosingh put AIA in front in the third minute, heading a pass from fellow striker Nigel Codrington beyond the reach of Rangers’ goalie Jason Bowen.
Rangers’ captain Errol McFarlane replied with another header, in the seventh, from a left-sided centre from another veteran Ricardo Aleong.
But Codrington sealed the winner in the 67th, chipping the ball over Bowen as the Rangers defence appealed for an offside decision.
