MARACAIBO, Venezuela – Barbados got off to a brilliant start in their Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Caribbean Under-17 campaign here Tuesday, when they dished out a heavy defeat to Grenada.Spurred by braces from Sunderland FC youth academy trialist Diquan Adamson and Jabarry “Pappy” Chandler, the Barbadians swamped their neighbours 6-0 on the opening day of the tournament.Barbados dominated the game from start to finish with the first goal coming in the 13th minute when Adamson received an excellent pass from Chandler and went around the Grenadian goalkeeper before slotting home.The skilful Chandler also created the second goal in the 33rd minute when he went on a solo run and was brought down in the 18-yard box. Dayo Ward stepped up and converted the penalty.Four minutes later, Chandler was the receiver this time when he got a pintpoint pass from Akeem Maloney to make it 3-0 and Adamson made it 4-0 in the 41st minute, again dribbling the goalkeeper before scoring.In the second half, Chandler made another fantastic run at the Grenadian defence. He weaved his way past three players, carried the ball to the goalline before cutting in and hammering a shot past the goalkeeper for his second goal in the 67th minute.Zari Prescod completed the deluge in the 73rd minute with an excellent run down the left side. He dribbled past two players, then cut in and drilled his shot away from the custodian.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 said.“We could have scored at least a dozen goals as the half-time 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, who they meet today, and 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 another match of the evening, hosts Suriname thrashed St Vincent and the Grenadines 8-0. The St Vincent and the Grenadines 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. (CMC/EZS)
