The Dominica men’s senior national football team suffered a major setback in their bid to remain in League B of the Concacaf Nation’s League following their heavy defeat to Group D Leaders of the Dominican Republic Saturday night.
Dominica lost the first leg against the Dominican Republic 2-nil back in the September round of matches in Antigua. With the added reinforcements for the November window, Coach Ellington Sabin was hoping for a change in fortunes as the two teams met at the Stadium Cibao FC in the Dominican Republic on Saturday.
However, it was the home team taking the early advantage as Dorny Romero put them in the lead in the 13th minute of play.
Despite being a goal down, the visitors continued to press on to get themselves back into the game thanks to a moment of brilliance from Travist Joseph.
Joseph who also scored in the second game against Bermuda got a ball and cut in from
the left flank and blasted one into the top corner beating the diving goalkeeper Xavier Valdez in the 30th minute of play to get the all-important equalizer for his team.
The celebrations were short-lived as the home team went back in front seven minutes later as Heinz Morschel put the Dominican Republic up 2-1 heading into the halftime break.
On resumption, the home team entered into top gear scoring 4 more unanswered goals in whipping the visitors 6-1 at the end of the final whistle.
Dominica currently sits in 3rd place in Group D, heading into their final match
with Antigua and has a 3-point advantage over Antigua and must avoid a defeat in
their last match if they are to remain in League B and avoid relegation to League C.
Dominica plays Antigua at 4 pm on Tuesday, November 19th in the Dominican
Republic.
For Coach Sabin, the team “did not keep to the game plan.” “We never saw that scoreline coming, but in the circumstances, the team did the best that they could. The guys have to lift their heads and we now have to go back to the drawing board before our final game against Antigua as we aim to remain in League B,” Sabin said.
Goalkeeper Glenson Prince saves another goal for Dominica.
