MARTINIQUE and Grenada pulled off wins during the final round of matches in the Scotiabank CFU Caribbean Cup on Tuesday. Fifteen nations, ,including St Vincent and the Grenadines, who got a bye, will now move forward to the next round in June.
Playing at home, Dominica were dominated in a 4-1 loss to Martinique. The home team got off to the worst possible start when Malcolm Joseph scored an 11th-minute own goal to give Martinique an early lead. Deniel Herelle made it 2-0 in the 23rd minute to see Martinique go into the interval leading 2-0.
Martinique widened the lead in the 53rd minute with a penalty conversion from Yoanne Arquin.
The home team pulled one back in the 74th minute from Chad Prince but Martinique added a fourth in the 88th minute from Stephanie Abdoul.
The third team in the grouping, U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), ended their 2016 Caribbean Cup run, going down 2-1 to Grenada.
Shane Rennie opened the scoring for Grenada in the 14th minute, ending the first half in favour of the visitors.
USVI equalised in the 67th minute through Trevor Wrensford, but with the match looking to go into extra time, Grenada scored. The 90th-minute strike from Kimo Sampson was just in time to give Grenada the 2-1 advantage.
Meanwhile, Dominican Republic defeated Barbados 2–0. After an opening victory versus Curacao in Group 4, Barbados found themselves eliminated on their visit to Dominican Republic.
Baptista Darlyn had a second-half double strike, in the 50th and 57th minutes, to give the home team the goals needed to advance to the next round.
French Guiana assured themselves qualification from Group 3 to the next round with a 3 -0 home victory over Cuba.
Goals from Loic Baal in the 24th minute, Alex Eric 44th, and Ray Contout’s strike in the 64th minute ended the match 3-0 in favour of the hosts, which also means Bermuda qualify to Round 2 as well. (Sportsmax.com)