4-1 aggregate lead then after Elroy Kuylen crashes the second of the game past the Dominican keeper. And yet Belize still pass up a few chances that would make absolutely sure of their third round place.
A surprisngly dominant performance from the Jaguars sees Belize brush La Republica Dominicana aside in a game that could have finished far more one-sided in favour of the hosts were it not for some very nervy finishing.
Glad to hear the Channel 5 livestream worked again for international viewers.
Watched the first half from a wooden bleacher right behind the city end goal and thus had the best possible view of the first two goals. The second, Kuylen's Van Basten-esque screamer from a tight angle was particularly enjoyable.
Sundays in Belize means Church and can mean all day activities including services, bible study and the like. Added to the threat of bad weather and the fact that tickets are very expensive meant the stadium was barely half full at kick-off. The crowd did trickle in over time though, and by half time there looked to be about 4,000 or so in.
In a reverse-Bible style, those 4,000 were serviced by two beer tents and two toilets. Fun. Half time and the first ten minutes of the second half saw me in a futile wait for a drink. Why do you have 1 crate of coke and 5 crates of Red Fanta? NO-ONE LIKES RED FANTA!!!!!
No that it mattered: "*sob*... Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps... PLEASE! *sob*"
Second half couldn't match the frenetic pace of the first and I spent it walking between different viewing spots. Also picked up a plate of jerk chicken and festivals for my dinner. A few more glorious opportunities wasted by the Jags before a great cross right onto MacAuley's head puts it to bed. In truth DomRep were done by about 35 minutes.
Thankfully I was wrong about the weather. I felt sure the inevitable daily storm would hit before the end of the game. As the pregnant clouds grew darker, the lightning drew nearer and the thunder drew louder I felt a smug sense of satisfaction from knowing that the novelty Belize umbrella hat I was wearing would keep roughly 6 square inches of my face dry... which would show all those laughing at me!!!
In the end the first fat drops of rain fell just as they were announcing stoppage time, which I took as a good indication to make my way back to my car to get to the hotel in quick time for the WARRIORS!
One thing I've found curious in my two years living in Belize is that locals really don't tend to clap and cheer at group events, be it a Marching Band contest or a big football match. Today was quite the reverse. I don't think I've ever seen so many happy, joyous Belizeans in one place. It was marvelous to behold.
We are a small country but very, very proud. We don't get many occasions to see Belize win on a national level, so it was great to see so many with a good reason to celebrate.
This round of qualifying continues into midweek - and will hopefully see the rotten bullies of Guatemala knocked out by Bermuda, a nation with a twentieth of Guat's population (0-0 in 1st leg, second leg in Bermuda on Tue or Wed).The draw for the third and final round of straight knock-out play will be made after those games are played.
That third round will be played on the last weekend of August and Belize go into that round just one step from the pool play where the big boys of USA, Mexico and Costa Rica get involved.
By then I hope OTF will have provided a few more recruits for the growing cultural phenomenon that is the mighty Global Jaguar Army!
According to my scores app, St. Lucia were 4-2 up on aggregate with nine minutes to go, but contrived to concede three more. That must have been an epic meltdown. Does anyone know what happened?
The Kluivert bandwagon keeps on rolling. The away goal scored by ADO's Papito Merencia sees Curaçao through.
The match itself took nearly 4 hours due to torrential, monsoon like conditions over Havana with the game being called off and restarted. Kluivert must be the most popular man in Curaçao at the moment.
Cal Alamein wrote: Muchas Gracias for the descriptive report TFM. Here's hoping for a winnable draw for the Jaguars.
Ditto!
Since the competition was started, Jamaica, who come in at round three with Haiti, have in fact risen from seventh in the confederation to fifth, with Honduras dropping.
World rankings of the teams already through to round three:
65 Jamaica
76 Haiti
104 Antigua and Barbuda
112 St Vincent and the Grenadines
132 Barbados
144 Curaçao
155 Belize
Remaining second round games:
[126] Bermuda (0) - (0) Guatemala [93]
I think this one is actually at half midnight tonight here, isn't it? That is, it's Monday evening local time? Hard to tell with these 'just around midnight' games which day they actually mean...
Tuesday 2030 UK time:
[160] Grenada (0) - (1) Puerto Rico [167]
[150] Suriname (0) - (1) Nicaragua [151]
After midnight Tues into Weds 0030 UK time:
[109] Canada (2) - (0) Dominica [168]
Early hours Weds UK time (0200):
[89] El Salvador (2) - (2) St. Kitts and Nevis [114]
Belize just got the better of the side ranked #116. The Jags have nothing to fear. Except Jamaica.
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