Bonaire team
Montserrat team
When the controversies go against you it is always so sweet when you go on to win. Only that going on to win eluded Montserrat as the least favourite or least known Bonaire prevailed to deny Montserrat a win it expected in the finale on June 3, 2014.
Caribbean Football Union football had come to Montserrat for the first time and the FIFA sponsored MFA (Montserrat football Assoc) Blakes football complex lit up to the ecstasy of the Montserrat bumper crowd which filled the stands on the nights Montserrat played, in the three-night competition.
In the end it was sour for the Montserrat fans which by far outweighed the rest, when Montserrat to their dismay was left goalless against the Bonaire team which never looked like a match for the Montserrat team, but used their planned strategy aided by what was commonly accepted and even acknowledged as a poor showing by the officials.
The tournament kicked of here on Friday 31 with teams from the USVI, Bonaire and the host Montserrat competing in group one of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) qualifiers. Montserrat was for the first time hosting an international football tournament and both the Premier Reuben T. Meade and CFU President Gordon Banks-Derrick have been full of praise for the local effort.
One spin off is expected to be more sporting contact among Montserrat and the neighboring islands. During the opening game between Montserrat and the US Virgin Islands (USVI) Premier Meade announced that there would be confessions to make this proposed initiative a reality.
“This is why the government has taken the decision, not only in football but in all of the other sports and including school sports; that you must be in a position to bring other teams here. The other thing which we have done with cricket and we’re hoping to do it in football is that we’re looking at Montserrat p
laying in the Antigua cricket league”
In the game proper Montserrat beat the USVI by one goal to nil to start the tournament on an impressive note for the host. Meantime on Sunday Bonaire beat the USVI by two goals to one in the second match at the Blake’s Football Complex.
This meant that the USVI had lost both of its games. Montserrat was hoping to keep its winning formula when they encountered Bonaire by at least one goal in the grand finale as it had turned out to be.
One miss after the other, mishaps and a disallowed goal which no one could figure out what the Montserrat infringement was that caused the disallowance. The match – nil, nil and Bonaire went through from the bottom having scored two goals in the competition.
As the Montserrat fans so too the footballers who looked fit and strong, but in end seemed to lack the finesse in their finish to actually put balls at the back of the goal.
