![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Guatemalan-crowd-642x365.jpg\")
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Dominica’s Senior Men\u2019s National Football Team was not greeted by a welcoming crowd when they took on Guatemala in a FIFA Concacaf World Cup Qualifiers on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
Media officer at the Dominica Football Association (DFA), Garvin Richards who accompanied the team to Guatemala for the match, said it was something he didn’t want to experience again.<\/p>\n
“We didn’t lose to 11 guys on the field…,” he wrote on his Facebook page in relating the incident. “We were beaten by the entire nation of Guatemala. The hostile environment we were greeted with on the streets outside the stadium alone was an experience I don’t ever want to experience again.”<\/p>\n
He said the team drove through a mob of Guatemalan supporters who tossed objects, firecrackers, and flares at their bus while rocking it.<\/p>\n
“Then you are being heckled and jeered by thousands more in the stadium,” he wrote.<\/p>\n
He went on to say that some of the things that were said to the Dominican team, he could not repeat because he would be banned from Facebook.<\/p>\n
“The Guatemala team were superior to us on the ball, I think we all knew that heading into the game…,” Richards also wrote. “But that atmosphere from the crowd was scary.”<\/p>\n
This followed travel delays which marred the team on their way to Guatemala earlier this week. \u00a0The boys from the Nature Isle reportedly got stuck in Barbados for some time because they did not have visas to enter the Central American country.<\/p>\n
Dominicans quickly pounced on the DFA on social media saying that its officials did not properly plan the trip. Many said the entire matter was an embarrassment for Dominica.<\/p>\n
The visas were subsequently obtained and the DFA was forced to apologize.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to first of all apologize to the players, to the public, and the football fraternity,\u201d Team Manager, Kurt Christmas, said.<\/p>\n
President of the DFA, Glen Etienne also apologized while describing the matter as “an unpleasant situation” which “will never happen again.”<\/p>\n
In the game against Guatemala, Dominica suffered a major defeat, with the final score standing at 6-0.<\/p>\n
Despite their travel woes and discouraging reception by the Guatemalan public, football observers here have given the players a thumbs up in term of their performance in Guatemala.<\/p>\n
The sentiments of some observers are captured in this comment by former FIFA referee, Carlisle Jno. Baptiste,\u00a0“Given the situation that the Dominica had to go through, I felt that the team did very, very well. First 0f all, although a goal was scored in the first half, Dominica should have had at least two clear penalties. The replays are there to show that…Despite the trying situation, they did very well and kudos to the coach and management of the entire Dominica team.”<\/p>\n
Dominica will now take on Jamaica in its next qualifier on Sunday here at the Windsor Park Sports Stadium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dominica’s Senior Men\u2019s National Football Team was not greeted by a welcoming crowd when they took on Guatemala in a FIFA Concacaf World Cup Qualifiers on Wednesday night. Media officer at the Dominica Football Association (DFA), Garvin Richards who accompanied…","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":323890,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[235,9,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-323889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage-carousel","category-news","category-sports"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n