Grenada, Guadeloupe make winning start

Grenada, looking to go one better than their 2008 runners-up spot in the Digicel Caribbean Championship, beat Group A winners Puerto Rico 3-1 in Grenada on Friday.

In the other game, Guadeloupe recorded a narrow 2-1 win over St Kitts and Nevis. Gregory Gendrey (12th) and Jean Luc Lambourde (87th) scored for Guadeloupe, while Jevon Francis netted in the 83rd minute for the Kittians in a game that exploded towards the finish.

off-the-ball incident

In the Grenada-Puerto matchup, both teams started well, but the first goal did not come until a minute before half-time. A long ball from the halfway line found Keithson Bain, who controlled well, came inside onto his right foot and smashed the ball past Perez to send the Grenadian fans into hysterics.

What should have been a commanding half-time break for Grenada ended in controversy when substitute Ian Perrotte, on the pitch only six minutes, was sent off for an off-the-ball incident in injury time at the end of the first half.

Puerto Rican coach, Adrian Whitbread, was forced into making a few tactical changes, but his tactics backfired at the 66th when keeper Perez fouled Anthony Modeste on the edge of the box, resulting in yet another early shower for a keeper in the opening day of Group E.

With all three substitutes having been used, Rivera was forced to swap his outfield jersey for the keepers shirt and as was the case in the opening game of this group, his first action was to pick the ball out of the net, as Bain stepped up and smashed an unstoppable free kick from the edge of the box and into the roof of the Puerto Rican net.

As Puerto Rico came forward in search of a goal, with Ramos seeing his header rebound off the post, Grenada swept forward and made it 3-0 at the 80th minute when Ricky Charles ran onto a through ball from Marc Marshall to slot under the advancing keeper.

Puerto Rico responded immediately when substitute midfielder Isaac Nieves hit possibly the goal of the tournament, when his 30-yard pile driver flew into the top corner, almost breaking the net in the same instance.