The BVI Men’s National Football Team. Photo: Provided

They first came up against Suriname on Saturday on October 13, 2018, and then three days later they played against the Martinique team.

The Suriname game which started around 4 PM was played at the Andre Kampervieen Stadium while Martinique chose to play their game at their "Pride and Joy" Stade Municipal Pierre-Aliker Stadium in Fort-de-France, Martinique.

No goals against Suriname

The Suriname game proved to be a hard one with the talented Stefano R. Rijssel finding the back of the net in the 23rd minute of play. The VI Men looked good but conceded another goal two minutes before the half scored by Brian Eshot.

The BVI played good football in the second half until a left boot shot by Donnegy Fer wrong-footed the goalkeeper to make the score 3-0. It was the talented Stefano Rijssel who scored in the 75th minute to make the score 4-0 and then a late goal by Ivenzo Comvalius saw the game ended 5-0 in favour of Suriname.

Coach Dan Neville knowing his team had another tough encounter in three days from a better Martinique team, did not allow the team to focus on the defeat but rather stayed focus on the upcoming game and how they could improve. Well after 45 minutes of play, the strategy seemed to have worked as the BVI went into the locker room with a nil-nil score line and the French spectators were not very happy at all.

The BVI got outdone in the second half by a set play which saw Kevin Parsemain put a free kick over the BVI wall and into the right top corner of the net. The rest of the game saw the BVI team play excellent football and with 80 minutes played the BVI stood at 0-1 down, while a restless Martinique crowd were crying for goals at their national stadium.

The chain was broken in the 83rd minute by Kevin Parsemain, followed by two back to back goals in extra time, which could only go down to lack of experience by this young BVI team who seemingly relaxed a little too soon before the final whistle.

Moving forward

The VI team will now move onto Anguilla on Friday 16th November, 2018 where they will play a home game in the CONCACAF National League against Bonaire. Their final qualifier game will be against Turks & Caicos next year March 2019.

All scheduled home games for the CONCACAF qualifiers could not be played in the VI due to the damages sustained by the local facilities from Hurricane Irma which had also done extensive damage to a new facility in Greenland, Tortola.