Cayman hold Belize to goal-less draw in away leg

Ramon Sealy

(CNS): The Cayman Islands football team clung onto a goal-less draw in the World Cup qualifying match on Wednesday evening during a relentless game of attack from the Belize squad playing in front of a home crowd in Belmopan. The Cayman national team was in trouble from the first minute, when Belize was awarded a penalty after a desperate tackle by Jason Ebanks in the Belize box. But keeper Ramon Sealy literally saved the game when he kept the shot out with an amazing save, setting the tone for the rest of the match.

The busiest man on the pitch throughout the 90 minutes, Sealy let nothing past him, despite the best efforts of the home team. Because of Sealy’s multiple saves Cayman survived their first leg in this first round draw on the road to Russia.

Despite facing a team ranked ten places higher in the region that had expected to run rings around the visitors, Cayman held on regardless as a result of Sealy’s incredible commitment and captain Abijah Rivers tireless presence at the back to help block the Belize attack.

When the final whistle blew, Cayman, playing in a white strip, had created few opportunities to score, with only one real shot on goal, but they had prevented their opponents from hitting the back of the net on home turf.

On Sunday the two teams will face off for the second leg at the Truman Bodden Sports Stadium in George Town. With the home crowd advantage and a few lessons learned from the Belize onslaught, Cayman’s miraculous defending has given the team genuine hope of qualification.