BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Barbados claimed a hard-fought victory when they defeated Curacao 1-0, in their opening game of the CFU Caribbean Cup qualifiers here Wednesday night.
Playing at the Usain Bolt Sports Complex in the Group 4 encounter, Romario Harewood netted the 69th minute winner to stun Curacao, who enjoyed 60 percent of the possession on the night but were unable to find the nets.
Harewood converted on a corner-kick from the right, a minute after he had slipped the Curacao defence and had a threatening shot palmed away by Dutch goalkeeper Eloy Room.
The Barbadian striker then buried the opportunity that came from the resultant corner kick.
“We planned for the match, played according to our plan and we are happy with the result,” said new Barbados coach Colin Harewood.
Captain and veteran England-based defender Emmerson Boyce praised his side’s resilience.
“It was a hard fought victory. Curacao are a very good team, technically very good and we had to work really hard. I thought each and every player put their effort in and we got the result,” the 36-year-old said.
Curacao’s head coach, former Dutch international Patrick Kluivert said he was disappointed that his team was unable to convert any of their chances but also praised the home team for solid defending when it mattered.
“I’m quite disappointed. We analysed the Barbadian team like how they played which is quite defensive,” he noted. “When they had possession a lot of times they played the long ball.”
On a night that saw the Barbadians absorbing tremendous pressure, former New York Cosmos goalkeeper Keasel Broome and Boyce played influential roles in shutting out the opposition. Broome kept Barbados in the match on three critical occasions, as he came off his line to deny the Curacao strikers after his defence was compromised. On one such occasion, Curacao midfielder Dustley Mulder was yellow-carded for diving in the second half after he was clinically dispossessed in a one-on-one encounter with the Barbados keeper.
Barbados, Curacao and Dominican Republic are all contesting Group 4 of the CFU tournament.
Curacao will next oppose the DR tomorrow in Curacao, while Barbados will meet the Dominican Republic in Santo Domingo on March 29.
Twenty teams from the region are competing in seven groups in the first round of qualifiers.
