The Cayman Islands recently lost a 2014 World Cup qualifier at home. However the national footballers have little time to rest.
Suriname are coming to town in less than a month on 7 October. Truman Bodden Sports Complex is once again slated to serve as the venue. The national sports stadium saw Cayman lose to El Salvador 4-1 in front of a decent size crowd on Tuesday.
National head coach Carl Brown states his troops have a better idea now of what it will take to compete with Suriname.
“Preparing a national team for games like this is not easy,” Brown said. “They know it first-hand now rather than me teaching it to them. I’m proud of them. Mark Ebanks got something going for us and stepped up to the challenge. He showed great confidence and composure to score on that penalty kick. He had a good quality game, he’s a good player and he’s willing to head to the top, which is very good.
“The Suriname game will be just as tough and we know we have to prepare.”
All of the goals in Tuesday’s contest were scored in the second half. El Salvador started the onslaught with a clinical strike from Christian Javier Bautista (52nd minute). They would then get two goals from captain Luis Alonso Anaya (65th and 80th minute) and another from Edwin Ernesto Sanchez Vigil (92nd minute).
Ebanks had the lone bright spot for Cayman in the 75th minute after Dion Brandon was taken down inside the penalty area. Interestingly Ebanks has faced Suriname twice in the last few months (once with the national U23 team and last week with the national mens team). He states he is confident heading into the October showdown.
“We played Suriname already and we know what they’re about,” Ebanks said. “We know what we’re capable of against them.”
Last Friday’s contest would see Suriname earn a hard-fought 1-0 victory. Brown made several changes to the side for the El Salvador match as he dropped Leighton Elliott and Renee Carter off the roster entirely. Interestingly there was some backlash over the duo representing Cayman in the first place as they hail from Jamaica and Honduras respectively. However, according to the Cayman Islands Football Association press office, Elliott is married to a Caymanian and two of Carter’s grandmothers are Caymanian.
The onslaught of goals late on Tuesday brought up some questions as to whether Brown made the right moves. The Jamaican national, who famously guided the Reggae Boyz during their run up to the 1998 World Cup, admits El Salvador employed better tactics.
“You hit the nail on the head because they executed better than us. We had a lapse in the final minute but that’s what happens at this level. The big thing is that three of their goals were from corner kicks. We struggled with them and we have to work on that. There were technical differences in this game.”
Interestingly Cayman has a number of World Cup qualifiers coming up this year. They face El Salvador again on 11 October before battling the Dominican Republic on 11 November and 14 November. Cayman captain Ian Lindo feels his squad will be up for the challenge.
“It was a very good game against El Salvador,” Lindo said. “We need experience playing at this level and we had to learn that the hard way. We’re an inexperienced team that made tactical mistakes, especially along the back, that cost us a few goals. But it was a hard game, we played well and we’re going back to training.
“I’m glad Mark stepped up and scored. That was good for his development. Our next game is against Suriname and that’s a match we’ll be preparing for now. We have four more games in this competition. I know there is a lack of practice matches going into this competition but we can only get better from here on in.”
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