AuthorJeffEyesRimmer
Its International football week and while that quite often brings groans from a lot of football fans we thought we would reflect back on one of the most ludicrous matches ever played. That match was between Barbados and Grenada in 1994 in the Caribbean Cup qualifiers. While some football fans may have heard this story before there are quite a few that will not have. So why was it so bizarre?
In 1994 Barbados, Grenada and Puerto Rico were in the same group in qualifying for the Caribbean Cup that was to be held in Trinidad and Tobago. The reason for this game becoming so infamous was actually down to a ruling for the qualifiers. The organisers had a rule that all matches were to have a winner, so extra time would be played if there was no winner after normal time. The golden goal rule was also applied in extra time but a quirk on this rule was that the golden goal was actually worth double!
So groups for qualifiers had three teams each with only the winner of each of the groups qualifying for the Cup. After Barbados lost to Puerto Rico 1-0 and Grenada won 2-0 against Puerto Rico the group was poised. Grenada were top with 3 points and a plus 2 goal difference, Puerto Rico second with 3 points and a -1 goal difference and then Barbados with 0 points and -1 goal difference. So to the final match (no second games) between Barbados and Grenada, Barbados had to win by 2 goals or more to qualify, Grenada needed a win, draw or not to lose by more than 2 goals, simple as that. The match began in a pretty standard fashion, Barbados scored 2 goals, but with 7 minutes remaining Grenada scored to make it 2-1. Barbados were going out. It was at this point that Barbados defender Terry Sealey realised the only way that Barbados could go through was to force the tie to extra time and hope to score and get the double goal. Consequently one of the oddest televised snippets occurred (See below), where Sealey and goal keeper Horace Stoute passed the ball between each other for a few minutes before Sealey blasted the ball into his own net making the score 2-2 and forcing the match to go to extra time. The Grenada players realised this and knew that one goal, for either team would result in them going through. So what transpired was utter chaos as Grenada tried to score a goal at either end, with Barbados players defending both sets of goals. In the end a Barbados defender was on the Grenada goal line stopping own goals and a Barbados striker was on the Barbados goal line helping his keeper. School boy football at its finest we would say. The referee blew the full time whistle and the match went to extra time. Incredibly up stepped Trevor Thorne to find the winner for Barbados and due to the golden goal rule counting double the match ended 4-2 to Barbados! Our favourite quote from the match was from the Grenada manager – ‘’I feel cheated. The person who came up with these rules must be a candidate for a madhouse’’. To be fair he has a point. That particular variation of the golden goal was used 5x times during the 1994 Caribbean Cup qualifiers. It was never used after. Barbados though went on and played in the Caribbean Cup, finishing third in a group with Trinidad & Tobago, Guadeloupe and Dominica. Trinidad and Tobago went on to win the tournament. Some football fans would have you believe International football is boring or not as interesting as the club side of things but then you wouldn't have stories like this.
Image: www.crossed-flag-pins.com
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AuthorsJust Some Fans Writing About Football. Archives
June 2018
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