BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - WHAT could have been a history-making evening of football for the St. Kitts and Nevis National Team, ended in a heartbreaking defeat with two players facing possible sanctions.
Playing under chilly conditions at Warner Park last evening (Nov. 13), the Sugar Boys imploded before a capacity crowd to a 2-nil defeat at the feet of their Haitian counterparts.
The visitors started as the brighter of two units by pressuring the Sugars Boys defenders to get an early sight of the goal, only to hit the side-netting but much to the delight of their supporters.
The Sugar Boys, bolstered by the home crowd, gallantly fought back but lacked penetration and speed to keep up with the visitors. Nevertheless, they created a number of opportunities, including one in the second half, as a striker sprinted down the left wing and skilfully made his way into the penalty area, only to have his shot blocked by the goalkeeper.
The crowd, knowing what was at stake for both teams, cheered and at times booed as the referee and his assistants blundered in their calls on a few occasions.
Those calls seemed to have caused some degree of frustration to creep into the Sugar Boys line-up, which resulted in a heated contest of pushing and shoving.
Both teams were goalless at regulation time, but, according to the tournament’s rules, there must be a winner and so the teams went into extra time (30 minutes).
The Haitians drew first blood in the 12th minute of the first half of the boot off Donald Guerrier.
Again, frustration seemed to have crept into the Sugar Boys camp as teammates Jason St. Juste and Julani Archibald (goalkeeper) had a mid-field brawl which resulted in the former being shown a second yellow, equalling that of a red card, and the latter a yellow.
Frustration was fever-pitched and it had boiled over into the second half.
Down to 10 men, Haiti rubbed the proverbial salt in the wounds when a cross was whipped in and found Ducken Nazon in the 29th minute of extra time to book their spot at the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup scheduled for the United States of America.
After the game, Head Coach Jacques Passy told reporters that the game-plan was executed ideally but the team was unable to complete the opportunities that were created.
“After the 90th minute, the red card to Jason really hurt us. After the 1-nil, I thought we really had a pretty legitimate shot at coming back, but a red card in extra time is always very difficult. We were not trying to be defensive, we tried to attack as much as we could. We had eight opportunities in front of the goalkeeper, so that is not being defensive or finishing in the right way.”
One of the Haitian players commended the Sugar Boys for their style of play but indicated that they knew what was on the line for the game and they were focused on coming out victorious.
“We are very excited because we go to the round, but we knew that we loss the last game at home 5-2. We were fighting for this game and we are now going to be pushing ourselves to go to the Gold Cup. Team St. Kitts were good opponents, they were smart in how they played.”
Vice President of the SKNFA, Al Edwards explained that the body knew it was a tough game heading into the evening because of their away defeat to French Guiana, and that it placed lots of pressure on the players to deliver at that moment.
“I think that we were very cautious at first and then we tried to play a counter attacking game. That didn’t work and then we had to open up a bit; that is where the chances came.”
Addressing the scuffle on the field, Edwards pointed out that they would have to review the referee’s match report, but there is a likelihood that disciplinary action would be taken against the offending players.
To this end, when asked about the motivation of fans to turn out and support the team against Estonia in the wake of this defeat, Edwards pointed out that the offending players first need to apologize to the public.
“It is the opportunity for them to see more of the local talent on display against a top-ranked team in Estonia,” he noted.
St. Kitts and Nevis will lock horns with Estonia on Saturday (Nov.19) from 7:00 p.m. at the same venue.
