The Men’s Senior National Team suffered its first defeat in six international matches as they went down to St Vincent in the 2nd International friendly on Sunday at Victoria Park in Kingstown, St Vincent. Dominica entered the match with an unbeaten record in its last six matches, which included five wins and one draw.
Head Coach Ellington Sabin opted to rest a number of players who featured in the first win over St Vincent earlier in the week, and made six changes to the starting lineup.
The decision was made in order to give the coaching staff a chance to assess the other players as Dominica continues with preparations for the World Cup Qualifiers in June.
Team Captain Briel Thomas, Javid George, Zion Emmanuel, Keeyan Thomas, Jerome Burkard, Savio Anselm were all rested, while starting debuts were handed to Nick Anthony, Trai Douglas, Fabio Drigo, and Dante Newton.
Dominica gave a good account in the first half, and could have gone in front had Fabio Drigo been able to keep his headed effort down, while the woodworks denied Chad Bertrand on his attempt from distance.
Neither team was able to break the deadlock and both sides headed into the half-time break at 0-0.
Dominica continued to press for the go-ahead goal in the second half but was caught twice on counterattacks within a 10-minute span. Second-half substitute Stephen Pierre scored both goals for St. Vincent.
In the end, Dominica went down 2-nil. Dominica however won the first match 3-1.
who’s not surprised from the results say I
Love my country and all of its national players and teams; however, I am a realist who is resigned to the fact that our national football team will never make significant impact in CONCACAF due to the unavailability of a large enough talent pool.
National pride aside, it is an undeniable fact the upper echelon USA NCAA football teams would drub the football teams representing the individual Leeward and Windward Islands countries.
The upside of continued participation in FIFA competitions by smaller territories is still very worthwhile and lucrative as our more talented players get an opportunity to showcase their skills to a larger audience while FIFA drops some much needed Shekels in the account of the DFA.