At a glance it may seem that Cayman football disappointed on Tuesday night.
The national men’s team dropped its 2014 World Cup qualifier to El Salvador 4-1. All of the goals came in the second half and two were questionable at best. However the emphasis should be on a young squad featuring Under-23 talents playing on the biggest stage for the national sport of these Islands.
As Cayman Islands Football Association President Jeff Webb states, the match showcased the future of the sport.
“This was a huge chance for Cayman,” Webb said. “We have one of the youngest teams in the entire World Cup qualifying field. Our team is young and developing and the match offered great experience and exposure. We need more of this. Head coach Carl Brown should be commended for continuing to invest in Cayman and Cayman’s youth.”
Among the young men who shined were Mark Ebanks, Donald Solomon, Theron Wood and Luigi Hernandez. All were noted for going to England on semi-pro football contracts last year. Clearly their time in the UK was well-spent as the group held their own on Tuesday.
Hernandez and Solomon steadied a Cayman defence that would bend but not break through the first half. In fact for most of the opening 45 minutes Cayman had five players in defence (including a hard-working Benjamin Cupid). Wood shined in mid-field and Ebanks caused a roar from the crowd at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex with a goal on a penalty kick midway through the second half.
Ebanks’ goal came as Cayman was down 2-0. The goal scorers were Christian Javier Bautista (52nd minute) and captain Luis Alonso Anaya (65th minute). Those goals came after the Central Americans produced three corners in the first 10 minutes that tested Cayman keeper Ramon Sealy.
The build-up to Ebanks’ goal was good. Wood would bypass a few El Salvador players in mid-field before finding Dion Brandon on the right wing. The West Bay legend would charge into the 18-yard box and be taken down on a hard tackle inside the penalty area. From there Ebanks would step up and confidently slot his shot low and left of outstretched keeper Dagoberto Portillo Gamero.
Ebanks, who stars on the national U23 team, states it was a great feeling scoring for Cayman.
“That goal really got the crowd into it,” Ebanks said. “From that point on they supported us like they always have. It was a tough game but that was a good moment.”
It should be reiterated that the 4-1 final score was far from expected. The first half ended scoreless in spite of El Salvador having a huge edge in possession (they had about 70 per cent of the ball). The side earned four corners through the first 40 minutes and had several good looks at goal. Rodolfo Antonio Zelaya Garcia and Bautista were the danger men for the visitors throughout and opened up chances for the likes of Carlos Monteagudo Alfaro.
El Salvador put pressure on Cayman the entire match. However the two goals they added late were more about lucky bounces than tactical strength. For the record Anaya scored in the 80th minute off a corner kick that lead to a loose ball in front of net and Edwin Ernesto Sanchez Vigil added the dagger in the 92nd minute.
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Well done, Cayman.
This was actually the first time that the world has had a chance to see the Cayman Islands play a World Cup match live to the world’s TV audiences because of El Salvador’s high profile and reputation in CONCACAF and..
The Cayman Islands did themselves and their country proud on the football pitch.
Taking into consideration that Cayman’s players are all only semi-pro (non-league English club)and amateur (local and USA-collegiate), this was a remarkable performance; El Salvador’s experience and quality only made the scoreline respectable in their favour in the last 10 minutes of the match.
In mentioning that this is the ‘future’ of the game in Cayman, I would question CIFA’s purpose and committment, as I did 17 years ago when there was even more quality football and footballers than is currently in Cayman now.
FIFA’s rules allow for the British Overseas Territories to include 3 full professionals in their teams who do not have to have family or heritage ties to the country; Cayman, Bermuda et al can recruit from the English professional leagues, players to strengthen their teams, increase their chances of going further in World Cup qualification and give their younger players role models to work with to learn what it takes to become full-time, well paid professional footballers.
The question remains from me to CIFA; why has this not been done, just as the question was asked years ago, why is the Cayman Islands still a totally amateur football country when much effort was made on my part and others, to move the situation along, to at least a semi-pro situation in Cayman when there were quality players and commercial interests ready to discuss the possibility of a semi-professional league.
These questions still remain unanswered.
With perhaps 20,000 Caymanians to choose a team from, playing a country with a population of over 6 million will always be hard. To say that Cayman Youth Shine though is simply not true and really does the team no favours if people are trying to make them belive this. They had a good period at the start of the second half but for 80 minutes it was 10 men behind the ball with Cayman’s sole tactic seeming to be to keep the score low and hoof the ball out of the penalty area. I have never seen such a one-sided game of football. Cayman’s man of the match was, without a doubt, our goalkeeper, if anyone shone on Tuesday night then it was this young man. But it is patronising to players and spectators alike to write of Cayman shining If that’s shining I’d hate to watch them play badly!
Read my last post and put your views in context to Cayman’s current situation…
And try to see where I’m asking the same questions that your comments are pointing out, in the second part of my post but I’m asking them in a very diplomatic way.
As a former footballer in Cayman, I now work at a club in the UK that just got relegated from the Premiereship so I see top class football in Britain, live, on a regular basis.
You cannot expect a weaker team to open up their game and attempt to play with a much stronger side; the objective has to be to limit the scoreline and take your chances when they come along, otherwise a 10-0 score from El Salvador could easily have been the result, in this match.
It was El Salvador’s job to break down the Cayman defense and that they did not do to any great degree, surprisingly, in my opinion…
This is why this was a very good game and result for Cayman against a side that has been to the World Cup and is usually a strong contender in CONCACAF.
Why CIFA has not attempted to move Cayman’s football forward more that they have done is a question that must be addressed to CIFA.
Why Cayman did not and has not attempted to play a ‘possession’ game when they had much better players to do so with was always a contentious point many seasons ago…
To attack effectively, you must have possession of the football and in truth, this Cayman side cannot string 3 consecutive passes together much less enough passes, going forward to mount any kind of effective, consistent, attacking game.
What you see Cayman playing now is a result of CIFA’s policies and approach to the game so you cannot expect to see that kind of game being played by Cayman now.
Why Cayman is not taking advantage of FIFA’s rules on qualified, profesional players to help strengthen Cayman’s team is another valid question that you must address to CIFA.
The youths on the night have done well and you should not take that away from them.