NewlyRetired
Footballguy
Montserrat beat the Cayman Islands 2-1 last night! The moves them into 7th spot temporarily in the Concacaf Nations League.Very cool story from Reddit about how close the 5000 strong population Montserrat is to qualifying for the Gold Cup
Montserrat is a tiny island in the Caribbean, home to approximately 5,000 people. Half of the island is inaccessible (including the capital, Plymouth) because of the Soufriere Hills Volcano eruption in 1995, which also meant over 7,000 people left the island to USA, Antigua or the UK.
A map of Montserrat
The Montserrat National Football team are ranked 200th in the world, below Gibraltar, Guam, Samoa and Malta just to name a few. Most of the players are born in the UK, having Montserattian parents or grandparents, who left the island either because of the volcano or because of the lack of jobs in the 50's and 60's. They joined FIFA in 1991, and in their first international lost to St Lucia 3-0. Willie Donachie, a former Scottish international who played in the 1978 world cup, manages the team.
Montserrat were featured in a film known as The Other Final, which focused on a game being played on the day of the 2002 World Cup final between the two lowest ranked teams in International Football - Montserrat and Bhutan.
Lyle Taylor is the team's main man and captain. Playing up front for Charlton this season, he has 14 goals in League One this season. Brandon Comley is another important player, who plays for Colchester United in League Two, whilst Adrian Clifton, Dean Mason and James Comley play together at Maidenhead in the National League. Alex Dyer plays in Norway, for Lillestrøm, on loan from Elfsborg. The Rest of the team play in the lower leagues in England.
The Montserrat line up against Aruba.
Matty Willock, who plays for Crawley Town on loan from Manchester United is another player that is eligible for the Montserrat National Team, along with his brothers Joe and Chris who play for Arsenal and Benfica (but I bet they'd prefer to play for England).
The Nations League qualifying has Montserrat in 15th and they play the Cayman Islands next, who are ranked 203rd in the world, and have failed to win any of their qualifying games. Montserrat would surely be the favourites in that one. To qualify for the Gold Cup, Montserrat would have to finish 10th or above.
Now, the teams above Montserrat. Belize play Guyana, and St Kitts & Nevis play Suriname. These are difficult games for Belize and St Kitts & Nevis. If they both fail to win, the odds will heavily swing in Montserrat's favour. French Guiana face Canada, which they should struggle to win, and El Salvador (who we nearly drew with!) play against Jamaica, which will be a tough test for them. If these teams fail to win then Montserrat will have qualified, if they beat the Cayman Islands.
On the 27th of March, the draw for the next Nations League will take place. Having already qualified for Group B, it could be a very busy year ahead for Montserrat.
For me, someone born in the UK with Montserrattian grandparents, it would be amazing to see them play in the Gold Cup. It's a miracle that we have beat Aruba and Belize, but to get to the Gold Cup would be a spectacular achievement.
They now need to wait out some other results to see if they make the Gold Cup (need to finish tenth or better to qualify)