CAY HILL--A missed penalty by Remsley Boelijn of St. Maarten with just seconds left in the Scotiabank CFU Men’s Caribbean Cup football qualifier match saw the home team edged out by the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) by 1-2 at the Raoul Illidge Sports Complex on Saturday night.
The local striker was brought down inside the penalty box through a reckless challenge from the USVI defender which prompted the referee to blow the whistle and call foul and immediately point to the penalty line.
With the fair-sized crowd standing anxiously as the penalty was about to be taken by Boelijn, the attacking striker hit the ball to the right of the goalkeeper who guessed the right side to block the shot.
The mourns and groans were loud around the ground as the local team missed an opportunity to tie the match.
Boelijn was outstandingly busy on the right wing especially in the second half when the mid-fielders fed him the ball more often than the first half. And when he broke away from his marker, and hit the back of the net with a strong low strike, the crowd went wild in celebration. In general, the men in red, white and blue played better in the second half than the first half when USVI displayed better ball control and creativity to hunt the opposition goal relentlessly.
The first goal for USVI was created through a powerful strike from #10 Asanti Herring that went through the legs of the approaching home goalie. The second was an athletic climb into the air by #17 Trevor Wrensford to out jump the home defender and head home another goal.
St. Maarten squandered at least three clear chances excluding the penalty.
This is the second loss for St. Maarten after they were beaten 5-0 by Grenada in Grenada on last Wednesday to be the only team in Group 2
