Daley relives wonder strike

Audley Boyd, Assistant Editor - Sports

MIAMI, Florida:

OMAR DALEY may have scored the goal of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, thus far. But unlike fans viewing the game from a television monitor, the Reggae Boy never fully enjoyed the sight of his beautiful strike in live fashion - as it travelled sweetly from the top of the penalty box to the pigeon hole 20-odd yards away.

Not only was the finish spectacular, but the build-up of fancy one-twos, which saw Eric Vernan playing the ball inside to Keammar Daley, who made a splendid chip pass with the outside of his boot to Jevaughn Watson. The latter then used the outside of his boot to cushion the ball one-time into the path of Daley, who unleashed a rocket.

nice build-up

"The whole build-up, it was a nice build-up. Keammar Daley did well and 'Hacker' (Watson) did well, and I was just reading the build-up and getting myself close, saying hopefully it'll drop for me, and there it was, I just closed my eyes and hit it," admitted Daley.

"It was my left foot, my weaker foot, so that made it a bit more special," added the midfielder, who smashed the ball from near the centre of the penalty area to give Jamaica a 3-0 lead against Grenada in their opening Group B match on Monday night, at the Home Depot Centre in California.

With the Boyz missing a lot of chances, the game seemed inviting for Daley, who was making a return to the Jamaica unit.

"As soon as I got on the pitch I said to myself 'look, I'm going to try and find one (goal) today'. I came on and did that, 'a just the blessings'," said Daley.

"I'm just grateful, I haven't scored for Jamaica in a year and a half, I was just grateful for the opportunity and the goal."

The Boyz eventually won 4-0 and have since travelled to Miami, where they held their first outdoor practice session yesterday afternoon at the Florida International University, where they will tackle Guatemala in their second group game on Friday at 7 p.m. (6 p.m. Jamaica time).