Road ends for Under-23 footballers

The journey mapped out for the St Vincent and the Grenadines men’s under-23 football team to Rio de Janeiro 2016 was aborted last Friday night in Haiti.{{more}}

Hoping to add more mileage on their sojourn in the Olympic Qualifiers, the Vincentians were posted the detour sign by host Haiti, who won the semi-final encounter one-nil at the Stade Syvio Cator in Port au Prince.

A 64th minute penalty, converted by Jhon Miky Benchy, made the difference in the score line.

The win for the Haitians put them through to the CONCACAF round, which kicks off in the USA in October. Fellow Caribbean Football Union’s representative Cuba will also be in the next phase of qualification.

Cuba earned the right to advance by ousting Jamaica 2-1 in the first semi-final Friday, which preceded the match-up of St Vincent and the Grenadines and Haiti.

Cuba scored in the seventh minute through Anchel Hernandez Mora, but Jamaica equalized by way of an own goal in the 50th minute, through Yosel Piedra Guillen.

Cuba’s Maykel Reyes Azpuy scored the decisive go-ahead goal in the 86th minute.

In the meaningless third place play, St Vincent and the Grenadines was beaten in extra time 3-2 by Jamaica, while Haiti edged out Cuba one nil in the final.

In their second loss, St Vincent and the Grenadines’ goals came from Chavel Cunningham in the 15th minute and Oalex Anderson in the 53rd minute. Tevin Slater missed a penalty in the 65th minute. For the Jamaicans, Michael Seaton netted in the 25th and 104th minutes and Romario Williams in the seventh.

But this was St Vincent and the Grenadines’ best showing at the Olympic qualifiers thus far.

It was a journey which saw them ousting Dominica 5-0 on aggregate in the preliminary round.

When placed in group four, St Vincent and the Grenadines played unbeaten. A 2-2 draw with host Puerto Rico and a 5-3 win over Trinidad and Tobago, put them in the semi-finals.

Haiti and Cuba, the two CFU representatives, join Mexico, the USA and Canada from the North American zone, with Honduras and Panama assured of representing Central America. Guatemala and Costa Rica meet in a home and away play-off on August 19 and 23 to decide the other berth from Central America.

From there CONCACAF’s two finalists gain automatic qualification to the Olympic Games and the third place team, playing off with a team from South America for another spot.