It wasn’t spectualar but the new-look Barbados national team gave a solid display to defeat Dominica 1-0 in their opening Group 4 Caribbean Football Union’s (CFU) Cup match at a wet Kensington Oval on Sunday night.
Never mind Ramuel Miller’s free kick from outside the penalty area was unintentionally headed past his own goalkeeper Glenson Prince by Dominica’s sweeper Collin Bernard, the victory was a deserving one for one of Barbados’ most youthful senior sides.
It was also sweet revenge for the Bajan Tridents, who had endured back-to-back defeats at the hands of the Dominicans in September 2010.
National coach Colin “Potato” Forde, who had presided over a winless World Cup campaign last year when Barbados suffered double defeats to Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Bermuda, bravely fielded two teenagers in the starting line-up as well as midfielder Raheim Sargeant, who only turned 20 in June.
Striker Kemar Headley is just 18, while central defender Ricardio Morris, the national under-20 captain, is 19 years old. Then Kyle Gibson, another 20-year-old, was used as a substitute, while fellow striker Armando Lashley, who is the same age, sat on the bench, alongside 15-year-old Harrison College student Sebastian Hunte.
There is also another teenager, 16-year-old St Leonard’s fifth former Ramar Millar, who is the captain of the Barbados Under-17 team.
Miller, a former professional with Sligo Rovers in Ireland, is the oldest player at 32. Captain Jeffrey Williams and defender Jomo Brathwaite are both 30, while goalkeepers Jason Boxill and Kerry Holder are one year younger and imposing central defender Barry Skeete is 28.
With three points in the bag, Barbados were due to take on the Dominican Republic last night and will play the relatively unknown Dutch-speaking Aruba in their final match tomorrow night.
Even though Barbados, with a lowly world ranking of 175, face opponents ranked 17 places above them, history is in their favour as they never lost to Aruba, winning all three previous matches.
The first time they met was in a World Cup qualifier in Aruba on April 1 in 2000 and Barbados won 3-1. In the return home leg a fortnight later, the Bajan Tridents blanked their opponents 4-0.
The other engagement was a Caribbean Cup qualifying match in April 2001 and Barbados won 5-2 in Suriname where the Group was hosted.
Additionally, at the junior level, the last time Barbados played against Aruba was in the Olympic Under-23 qualifiers in 2007 when they won both the home and away legs of the ties.
Four players from that Olympic team – Carl Joseph, Malcolm “Buju” Marshall, Ranaldo Marques and Tristan “Fishy” Parris, all now 24 years old, are in this senior team.
Mario Harte is also 24, while defenders Andre Bourne and Jason Lovell are both 22 years old. (EZS)