After a dazzling start to an international tournament, optimism is high within Cayman’s youth football ranks.
The Cayman Islands started the inaugural Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football Under-15 Girls Championship with a 5-0 thrashing of the British Virgin Islands. Truman Bodden Sports Complex would see a dominating performance from the home team on Wednesday night. Up next is the Bahamas on Aug. 8 at 7:30 p.m. and Cayman’s coach Ruben Flores says the key to repeat success is staying in the moment.
“I think that it went really well being the first game,” Flores said. “The girls were a little bit nervous, which is normal and natural at these types of competitions. But I think things started working our way. We’ve been working very hard and the advice and the game plan was to stick to what we practiced, to do what we’ve done all this time. It showed up and paid off at the end of the game.
“Every game is difficult. Like I’ve been saying, this was a difficult game because it was the opening. But now the difficult part is to be consistent. You cannot just have a good performance and then go back and not have a good performance or not be prepared for the next game. So we’re going to take the next game one step at a time but with the seriousness of this first game.”
Cayman were in control from the start, enjoying the majority of possession and chances. It would not take long for Cayman to strike as forward Chelsea Green scored in the 15th minute off a well-executed free kick. Green, the girl of the match, would end up with a hat trick by half time as she found the back of the net in the 25th and 30th minute thanks to great individual efforts and penetrating runs through the BVI defense. The match was essentially over at half time with Cayman up 4-0 as defender Sabrina Suberan scored off a free kick in the 23rd minute.
The second half saw much of the same as Cayman continued to make the action one-way traffic. The local girls looked primed to score upwards of six goals but missed a number of stellar chances. Ultimately, Deondra Kelly would round out the scoring in the 75th minute. After poor clearances from the BVI goalkeeper and defense, Kelly would capitalize on a turnover in the penalty box and score with ease.
Green, listed as a midfielder, said she could have played better.
“I think my performance could have been a little bit better,” Green said. “I wasn’t getting back enough. Mentally, I was prepared but physically I was kind of prepared. When I got on the field I felt better. I felt great when I scored first. I’m looking forward to the last game and I’m really excited for the next game against the Bahamas. To be girl of the match I feel very great. It’s amazing, it’s my first three international goals for Cayman and I like to win.”
Tactics-wise, Flores used a 3-5-2 formation which did well to pressure BVI on the ball and create lots of possession for Cayman. Defenders like Suberan did well on set pieces, which Cayman had a number of due to some sloppy fouls from the visitors.
Suberan said her goal was a result of great team effort.
“I think it was good as a team, we worked very hard,” Suberan said. “I think my performance was good but I need to get back more and support my team mates. Scoring is fun, I like to win but it’s not all about winning.”
With the win, Cayman are on top of Group A. Four other countries were in action on Wednesday as Honduras edged Bermuda, 1-0, while Trinidad and Tobago thrashed Barbados, 4-0. Due to goal differential, Trinidad are the Group B frontrunners. Eight other teams were in action on Thursday and aside from Cayman, Friday sees Barbados against Honduras at 4:30 p.m. at Truman Bodden while the Ed Bush field in West Bay hosts Bermuda against Trinidad at 4:30 p.m. and BVI against Curacao at 7:30 p.m.
Cayman will have one final group match on Aug. 10 against Curacao, at 7:30 p.m. at Truman Bodden with the playoffs getting under way from Aug. 13. In Kelly’s mind, the key to Cayman advancing to the knockout phases is determined play.
“It felt good because my team mates helped me to score,” Kelly said. “I can’t take all of the credit because I had to get the ball from one of my team mates. I thought about this on Tuesday night and I guess it worked, it happened. I think we’ll come out even stronger. I think that if we work harder than we did tonight, we will get good results next game.”
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