The Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands were unable to secure victories during their first two games of the 2022 CONCACAF Nations League. Instead, both teams halted their Group D series in 1-1 draws.
The Caymanian boys, who are ranked 195th in the world by FIFA, travelled to the BVI for the first match, held at the A.O. Shirley Recreation Ground on 3 June.
BVI’s captain Troy Caesar opened the scoreboard with a goal in the 62nd minute. Cayman answered back with the final goal of the game in the 80th minute, courtesy of Syrus Conolly.
Cayman then welcomed the 209th ranked team to the Truman Bodden Sports Complex on Monday, 6 June. More than a hundred fans cheered on from the high bleachers as the two teams battled through inconsistent rainy weather.
Cayman was awarded a penalty 25 minutes into the match, which top Caymanian striker Jonah Ebanks capitalised on.
Seconds after referee Rubiel Vazquez blew to commence the second half, BVI’s intentions were clear – “pressure early,” according to BVI’s head coach Chris Kiwomya.
That pressure caught Cayman off guard as BVI’s Jamie Wilson made the game even just one minute into the second half.
“Disappointment is what we are feeling now,” Cayman’s assistant coach Claudio Garcia told the Cayman Compass after the match. “I believe a slight error on our positioning in the second half dictated the goal that we conceded, which we were not expecting.”
The game remained competitive, and Cayman came close on several occasions, with Romario Dixon and captain Joshewa Frederick-Charlery taking shots that were inches away from finding the back of BVI’s net.
The last time that Cayman men’s national team captured a win was in November 2019 when they defeated the US Virgin Islands 1-0, before being beaten during last year’s World Cup qualifiers.
Frederick-Charlery told the Compass that he expected his team to get back to their winning ways, but he believes complacency played a factor.
“Our goal was to get all three points,” he said. “We didn’t create enough chances going forward… I think we kind of took our foot off the gas a bit.”
Cayman will play Puerto Rico on Thursday, 9 June.
Frederick-Charlery added that he remains optimistic about his team’s chances of capturing a win against the Hispanic team.
Related Videos
