The Cayman Islands men’s national football team secured another three points in the CONCACAF Nations League after defeating the British Virgin Islands 1-0 on Saturday, 12 Oct.
The win puts Cayman back in contention to advance from Group C, and marks the first time since 2019 that the senior men claimed victory in an away match.
The second-leg game between Cayman and BVI kicked off at the Newtown Football Stadium in St Kitts & Nevis. It was clear from the start that Cayman had an offensive game plan.
Cayman took 13 more shots than BVI and had a higher possession rate throughout the match.
“It was a tough match,” Joey Jap Tjong Cayman men’s national football head coach told the Compass. “I had a bittersweet feeling, the bitterness was that we had so many chances and we scored zero of those chances.
“We have a young team so they have to learn a lot but if you don’t finish, you don’t win. Can you imagine, if 30 or 40% of those chances finished?”
The ball that finally found the back of the net came shortly after Caymanian Dimetri Douglas was subbed in. Douglas capitalised on a corner kick with a header in the 69th minute, which ultimately served as the winning goal for his country.
“I am so proud of the player, Dimetri Douglas, his mentally is so good, so many months he trained with us, and he never got the chance before and sometimes I didn’t even select him but he just kept coming,” Jap Tjong added, noting that he is all-around very proud of the team.
It’s the same scoreline from the first encounter in the 2024-25 Nations League, when Cayman secured its first win of the tournament last month.
The boys representing the 345 will try to avenge their home defeat last month at the hands of St. Kitts, on Tuesday 15 Oct. – a match that will conclude the group stage of the competition.
For Cayman to have a guarantee qualification to the next round, however, they would need to beat St Kitts by eight goals – a feat that seems almost impossible considering the results from the last time the two met.
But should Cayman pull off the win with fewer goals, a draw or even lose, they could still advance from their group if they are the best second-place finisher from League C, according to the CONCACAF Nations League rules.
It would mark the first time that a Cayman senior team advance from a CONCACAF Group stage.
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