Cayman’s hopes of advancing to the 2025 Gold Cup took a major hit on Friday after an irrepressible Guadeloupe claimed a 6-0 victory in the first leg of their Nations League ‘play-in’ series.
Though several players had hoped for favourable results leading up to the match, those hopes were put to bed as the two Caribbean territories slugged it out under relentless rainfall that had the pitch drenched in shoe-deep water throughout the 90 minutes. The torrential downpour forced a temporary halt in hostilities midway through the second half.
But by that time Guadeloupe were out of sight both in the fixture and the two-leg encounter.
The French Caribbean territory were clear favourites heading into the game and they quickly showed why, opening the scoring in the 12th minute through Raphael Mirval.
Jordan Leborgne go the second 37 minutes into the game and Freddy Plumain effectively clinched the win for the visitors before the interval.
The goals continued into the second half, with Vikash Tillé scoring in the 64th minute. Shortly after that the game was temporarily halted due to the rain.
When play resumed after an hour-long break it seemed like the Cayman boys were starting to find their feet, holding a better defensive line and even having a few breakaways that resulted in shots on goal.
However, Guadeloupe would again, find the back of the net after Cayman’s players were unable to clear the slippery ball out of their box.
To make matter worst, Cayman’s Dominic Owens’ deflection ended up going into his own net – marking the second straight game that the Cayman men has conceded an own goal.
The match marked the first time the two teams met since their first encounter in 2008, where Guadeloupe won 7-1.
Now the Cayman men will have to put this loss in the rearview mirror and focus on their second-leg fixture against Guadeloupe on Tuesday.
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