Tuesday, November 30th 2010 – Pierre Aliker Dillon, Martinique: Cuba and Grenada qualified to the Digicel semi finals in first and second place respectively from Group H in what was the poorest display of the beautiful game in some years to remember.
| Cuba (Blue) | 0 – 0 | Grenada (Yellow) |
| 02 00 05 00 00 00 | Shots Corners Fouls Offsides Yellow cards Red cards | 01 00 08 00 00 00 |
With both sides knowing a draw was required to preserve their positions at the summit of Group H and with it automatic qualification, neither team seemed to want to over attack in the opening half.
Cuba made 4 changes from their hard fought win over Martinique, some of which were due to suspensions, but the quality of their side was intact as they showed with relentless passing between the midfield and the back four.
The patient build ups were not threatening Grenada as the Cubans waited for an opening which was unlikely to be presented easily with skipper Modeste not in a charitable mood at the heart of the spice boys' defence.
Cuba did get a few shots away in the first half but they were long range efforts that did no more than require keeper Baptiste to request a new ball from the Digicel ball boys.
The half time whistle went bang on 45 minutes and the unusual situation of not one minute of injury time was displayed to be required to be played. The crowd jeered and whistled their dissatisfaction at both sides who seemed content to train rather than play.
While I doubted it was possible, the second half seemed to get worse. The Cubans knocked the ball from left to right across midfield and never looked as if they would try to move forward. Grenada were complicit in this spectacle as they simply sat back and allowed their opponents keep the ball for fun.
The training session the day before would have been more exerting.
The game ended to be greeted by jeers and whistles from the crowd as was fitting for how this game was played. The only resort for this game was for it to be forgotten as quickly as possible, which would not prove difficult based on both teams display.
The Digicel Cup Finals will be played from November 26 through to December 5 in Martinique with live television broadcast worldwide courtesy of Digicel as well as live radio coverage, images and updates on www.digicelfootball.com.
Cuba:
1 Odelin Molina Hernandez 2 Carlos D. Francisco Serrano 3 Jeniet Marquez Molina (Captain) 5. Jorge Tejeda 6 Yoel Colome 17. J. Valencia 10. Roberto Balmaseda 11 Sander Fernandez Cervantes 14 Aliannis Urgelles Montoya 15 Armando Curumeaux Isidoro 16 Reysandri Cervantez
Coach: Raul Gonzalez Triana
Grenada:
1 Andre Baptiste 2 David Cyrus (5. Cassim Langaigne 46 mins) 4. Curt Rennie 11 Benedict Modeste (Captain) 7 Byron Bubb 8 Delroy Facey 9 Ricky Charles (14. Marcus Julien 46 mins)10 Kitson Bain 12 Bradley Bubb 17 Craig Rocastle (20 Shane Rennie 61 mins) 19 Patrick Modeste
Coach: Franklyn Simpson
Referee: Raymond Bogle (Jamaica)
Assistant Referee 1: Steven Browne (Jamaica)
Assistant Referee 2: Ricardo Morgan (Jamaica)
Match Commissioner: Dale Spencer ( Jamaica)
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