BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THIS afternoon (Sept. 3) Warner Park comes alive with the first two matches of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Caribbean Cup Group Six. The first would see Dominican taking on Guyana and that would be followed by host team St. Kitts/Nevis doing battle with St. Lucia. In effort to keep our readership abreast of the progress of the games, timely updates would be posted from beginning to most-recent.
10:39p.m. - St Lucia's coach Anthony Meeshac was pleased with his teams perfomce and was happy with the result. Geoffrey Hazel, SKN's Head Coach said scoring was the main issue preventing the team from winning the game and he hopes to improve before the next game. He added that the local-based and overseas-based players blended seamlessly.
10:30p.m. - Final whistle! Game between St. Kitts-Nevis and St. Lucia ends at nil-nil. No goals on day one of the CFU Caribbean Cup Group Six matches. St. Lucia displayed an improved performance in the second half of the game however, the home side were wasteful in converting their chances. Julani Archibald however kept the SKN side.
10:16p.m. - About 10 minites remaining in the game and the score is still nil-nil.
10:13p.m. - Archibald having to be called into action, parryiing another shot for a corner.
10:05p.m. - Free-kick by St. Lucia is parried away by Julani Archibald. The resulting corner leads to a loose ball in the home side's box but was eventually dealt with by the defender.
9:51p.m. - Another chance to Harris... Jason St. Juste does well to beat the defender and finding an open Orlando Mitcham on the left wing who got a cross in, but Harris fails to steer the ball towards goal.
9:44p.m. - Devaughn Elliot's powerful left-footed shot goes inches wide. Many in the crowd thought it was in.
9:42p.m. - Early second half chance for St. Lucia. The snapshot is however comfortably saved by Julani Archibald.
9:40p.m. - Teams backout for the restart. SKN were the first to take the field with St. Lucia following. A bit delayed, but the second half is about to start. St. Kitts heading north this half while the St. Lucians are heading the other direction.
9:23p.m. - Half-time 0-0 in an physical encounter. Bulk of the chances fell to SKN.
9:20p.m. - 45th minute, another chance for SKN but Lucian defense too good.
9:12p.m. - Another chance falling to Atiba Harris following a brilliant pass by Sawyer, but a poor touch by Harris allowed the goalie to collect.
9:06p.m. - Good spell by St. Lucia but strong defensive play by St. Kitts-Nevis is alert and appears capable of dealing with the situation. Hard tackle on Romaine Sawyer who retaliates against his tackler. Home fans getting rowdy by the sloppy play of St. Kitts and Nevis.
9:03p.m - Free kick for st. Lucia about 30 yards from goal... but the shot goes flying into the crowd
8:55p.m. - Chance falling to Atiba Harris but the delayed shot allowed the St. Lucian defender to get behind the ball and block the shot.
8:50p.m. - St. Lucia so far happy just to sit back and hit St. Kitts-Nevis on the counter attack.
8:47p.m. - Romaine Sawyer and Devaughn Elliott have been a thorn thus far to SLU's defense even in this early stage.
8:40p.m - Early chance for SKN shot by Devaughn Elliott forces a save from the goalie and then sends the rebound wide, drawing a unanimous "awww" from the crowd.
8:35p.m. - Kick off by St. Lucia. Team SKN attacking the south. The visitors attacking towards Carnival Village.
8:25p.m. - Teams parade onto pitch ahead of national anthems and inspections.
8:10p.m. - Kick-off is close, teams being announced. St Kitts-Nevis players get great cheers from a crowd that has grown considerably since the first game.
8:00p.m - Both St. Kitts-Nevis and St. Lucia have taken the field, going through their warm ups ahead of the 8:30 kick-off. Also warming up is the iron band that has become a staple at National Football games.
7:30p.m. - Final whistle! Both teams tied for nil. Both has several chances to win. Dominica had the better second half and should have had at least 3 goals.
7:24p.m. - Miss! Kenny Jean Baptise of Dominica sends the ball into Carnival Village.
7:22p.m. - Penalty! Red card! Stephen Ramsey of Guyana is sent for an early shower and to rub salt in the wounds, a penalty.
7:20p.m. - 86th minute, time running out... Guyana with a good opportunity which was denied by sturdy Dominican defense.
7:13p.m. - On the counter attack, the Dominican striker had a one-on-one opportunity with the Guyana goalkeeper who saved brilliantly to keep the game level.
7:11p.m. - A threatening ball by the Guyana was fumbled by the Dominican goalkeeper but recoverd to deny the onrushing striker.
7:08p.m. - No one really controlling the game; really scrappy play by both team. No one really looking threatening to either's defense.
Dominican goalie on the floor with some sort of difficulty causing a pause in play
7:00p.m. - Chance! Kevin Lawrence of Dominica had a simple opportunity form a corner following a poor clearance from the Guyanee, but volleys the ball into the bleachers.
6:55 p.m. - Four yellow cards given out so far. Each team has two. Good spell of play for the Dominicans leading to two shots that were sent sailing into the crowd on both occasions.
6:50 p.m. - Crowd building up slowly but surely. The Park is about 55% filled. With St. Kitts and Nevis playing later in the evening, the crowd is expected to grow ahead of that game.
6:43p.m. - Hectic start so far in the second half. A spell of sloppy pases by both teams resulted in both defenses having to work tirelessly to ensure they don't concede a sloppy goal.
6:34p.m. - Both teams back out from the break. Dominica will be attacking the goal at North while Guyana attacking southerly.
6:24p.m. - Half time here at Warner Park and the score it still tied at nil. Both teams had a chance to break the deadlock but the simple opportunities were squandered. The Guyanese had been the better of the two sides but showed some defensive fraility.
6:22p.m. - Two minutes to be added on the first half.
6:08p.m. - Chance! Delwane Fraser shot a ball cannon off the post as Guyana fails to capitalize on the best chance of the game so far.
6:07p.m. - Wade of Domimica forces a brilliant save from the Guyanese goalkeeper from a freekick 40 yards out.
6:05p.m. - The game has now turned into a midfield battle with both sides struggling to create any meaningful opportunities.
5:56p.m. - The game's tempo has slowed considerably from the earlier fast pace.
5:55p.m - 19 minutes into the game and the score is still even at 0-0
5:50p.m. - The Dominican goalkeeper had to make two brilliant saves to keep the game at 0-0; one from open play, which led to the other.
5:45p.m. - Guyana slowly finding their feet in this game. The team has an opportunity to score when the Dominican goalkeeper sped off his line and opportunity was squandered by the Guyanese.
5:39p.m. - In the early exchanges so far, the Nature Boys of Dominica have been the better side with two early chances of scoring goals. But their attempts were not successful.
