The St. Kitts and Nevis Senior Men’s National Football Team experienced a hiccup in their CFU Caribbean Cup match against French Guiana, when the team lost to its host 1-nil.
It was the team’s first loss in over one year of international competition, in what many football officials consider to be an outstanding performance by the team.
Reporting on the encounter against French Guiana, General Secretary Stanley Jacobs of the St. Kitts and Nevis Football Association (SKNFA), said, “It’s a setback for Team St. Kitts and Nevis, but all is not lost, because we are still in a position to qualify and go through to the Gold Cup.” That’s the CONCACAF tournament to be played in the United States.
He indicated that the team remains positive in outlook.
“We want to commend the guys for an excellent run over the past number of international games, and to commend the guys for an excellent job in this match, even though we lost one goal to nil. Our spirits are still high, and we look forward to playing Haiti,” Jacobs remarked.
According to the General Secretary, the match against Haiti will be “an all for everything match for us”.
Jacobs explained, “Should we win that match, we would put ourselves in a very strong position to qualify for the Gold Cup and the CFU finals.”
The General Secretary appealed to football fans to continue their support for the team. He commented, “We thank the general public and football loving fans for their support, their well wishes, for rallying behind the team… We are asking you to come out when we play Haiti in November, in that all important match.”
Importantly, Jacobs noted, “It will be the biggest match in the history of St. Kitts and Nevis football, so we want everybody to rally behind the team.”
Due to air transportation issues arising as a result of Hurricane Matthew passing through Haiti, the Caribbean Football Union is working on a rescheduled match that could be sometime in November.
Meanwhile, all the professional players will return to their clubs, while locally based players will rejoin their Premier League clubs in the ongoing fixtures at play.
“We believe the Premier League will help prepare the guys very well for the match in November,” Jacobs said.