MARACAIBO, Suriname (CMC) – Barbados got off to a brilliant start in their Caribbean Football Union Caribbean Under-17 campaign here Tuesday, when they dished out a heavy defeat to Grenada. Spurred by braces from Sunderland FC youth academy triallist Diquan Adamson and Jabbary Chandler, the Barbadians swamped their neighbours 6-0 on the opening day of the tournament.
Adamson opened the deluge in the 13th minute before adding his second in the 67th. In-between, Dayo Ward converted a penalty in the 33rd to double the score before Jabbary Chandler grabbed his brace four minutes apart with strikes in the 37th and 41st.
Only two more goals were scored in the second half as Zari Prescod sealed the scoring in the 73rd to add to the earlier one by Adamson.
According to Barbados team manager Dave Small, Grenada never really mounted a serious challenge.
“Our opponents were not as strong or as quick as we were. We played our game and never allowed them to develop their offence,” Small told CMC Sports.
“We could have scored at least a dozen goals as the halftime scoreline was 4-0 in our favour. We missed several easy chances.”
Barbados remained at the stadium and took in a bit of their next opponents St Vincent and the Grenadines, whom they meet today. Small said he was content with their focus on the job at hand.
“The guys are upbeat and high-spirited especially after this comfortable win in our opening match. They executed the game plan and we were satisfied with the performance.”
In the other match of the evening, hosts Suriname thrashed St Vincent and the Grenadines 8-0. The SVG team managed to limit the home side to 2-0 at the half but an early second half expulsion of one of their key central defenders opened the floodgates and resulted in the lopsided loss.