The Men’s Senior National Team almost pulled off a major upset at Windsor Park as they almost rescued a point coming from 3 goals down in their World Cup Qualifying match against Jamaica on Sunday.
Despite suffering a heavy 6-goal defeat in their last match against Guatemala, Dominica came out a different team in front of the home fans and took the game to the Jamaicans early on.
Coach Ellington Sabin had made one change to the starting line with Audel Laville replacing Javid George, and Laville made an impressive start to the game.
Dominica stood toe to toe with the reggae boys until they conceded a goal against the run of play in the 31st minute when Shamar Nicholson pounced on a loose ball in the back to put Jamaica in front.
The Jamaicans doubled their lead in the 43rd minute with Kaheim Dixon capitalizing on another defensive letdown.
The Jamaicans went into the half with a 2-nil lead.
Despite being down 2-nil, Dominica kept fighting but just couldn’t find a way on the score sheet.
Jamaica then scored a 3rd goal in the 80th minute of play with Shamar Nicholson converting from the penalty spot.
Just when it looked like things were done and dusted, Dominica found a second wind.
Substitute Javid George pulled one back in the 83rd minute, thanks to a brilliant through ball from another substitute Savio Anselm.
A few minutes later Troy Jules added another scoring off a brilliant free kick, making it 3-2 in the 89th minute.
With the roaring crowd behind them, Dominica continued to press for the equalizer, but ran out of time in the end.
And at the full-time whistle, it was Jamaica 3, Dominica 2.
Team Head Coach Ellington Sabin speaking after the match says despite the loss he was proud of the fight-back from the team.
Team Captain Glenson Prince was also proud of the character displayed by the team and thanked the thousands of fans for their support.
Glenson Prince interview:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Qna7SCj96rCkKiF2ji2k69W-MhGz_uQV/view
Ellington Sabin interview:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QnI2e3cREmfnbvj4wn4t4isOErO6V5IJ/view
where can we buy the Dominica jersey
Trying to polish a lost to make it look good?
The Nature Boys performed well overall, but that unnecessary penalty hurt us at the end. I watch the game on the CONCACAF YouTube page and noticed that the stadium was less than half full. Many are calling for World Cup Cricket, but we need to show up for World Cup Football too.
Hopefully we are able to build a more competitive program from the stellar effort against a world cup level team in Jamaica. Saw a lot of heart from the DA players