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VIDEO: GUATEMALA CITY -- As the CONCACAF semifinal round of World Cup qualifying kicked off earlier this summer, the tiny Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda - population 82,000 - looked like the biggest underdog by far of the twelve teams still fighting for the region's three and a half World Cup spots.
But the team FIFA currently ranks 101st in the world has proved to have other ideas. After a tight loss to regional giant United States on the road to open the round, the Benna Boys hosted Caribbean power Jamaica on match day two, fighting to a scoreless draw in front of their home crowd.
With one point from two matches and just three adrift of the group leaders, the Caribbean island nation has more than pride to play for this week in Guatemala, as the Benna Boys visit Central America's most populous nation for the first time in more than a decade. In an exclusive interview at the team's hotel, team captain George Dublin told CONCACAF.com that things have been going well thus far in camp.
"Everything is going great so far," Dublin said. "We've had three days of sessions which has been great so far, the media's been around watching our sessions and so forth. The guys are in a good mood, everything's great. You have some guys who came in yesterday and they're going to train this morning, so, so far everything is going according to plan."
Antigua and Barbuda was scheduled to arrive midweek in Guatemala, but instead most of the team flew in on Sunday evening, three days early, to begin to acclimate to the weather and altitude in this nation's capital.
They have been training at the practice facilities of the Estadio Cementos Progreso, which local team Comunicaciones calls home. The Benna Boys will head out to the Estadio Mateo Flores Thursday evening to view the pitch and get in one last training session before Friday night's showdown.
"We have a training session there this evening," Dublin explained. "The facilities we've been using so far have been nice, full-grassed, the sun has been out in its full bloom, so everything has been going according to plan."
While the team has been getting used to Guatemala, the Antiguans still can't claim much familiarity with their hosts in terms of football. The sides have met only twice, in a home-and-home series of qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup. Those matches, played in the summer of 2000, ended in two victories for the Chapines, including an 8-1 runaway in Guatemala, in which Dublin played a role.
"We don't know much about the Guatemalan team," the captain said. "Last time we played Guatemala was over twelve years ago and only myself and [midfielder] Ranjae Christian was involved in that, which we got beat real badly, 8-1 I think it was. So we're hoping to try our best to get some revenge from that last game in Guatemala twelve years ago."
This time, the captain says, things will be different if the islanders have their way. Head coach Tom Curtis has the Benna Boys believing that getting points on the road could put them right back in the thick of things in terms of advancing to the final round of qualifying, given that group co-leaders Jamaica and the U.S. will be battling each other in a series of games elsewhere in coming days.
"We're most definitely believing that we can get points in Guatemala, based on results in previous games," Dublin pointed out. "I think the Jamaicans beat Guatemala 2-1 in Jamaica and we held Jamaica to a 0-0 draw. In our opinion if Jamaica could have beaten Guatemala and we held Jamaica it's most possible that we can get some points from this game here tomorrow evening."
Despite representing a nation of just 82,000 people, Antigua has proved it shouldn't be taken lightly. Its FIFA ranking is just ten spots behind Guatemala, and the pair sit tied in the Group A table.
All pressure Friday night will be on the hosts, as failure to get six points in the two upcoming matches with Antigua - though more difficult a task than it seems - would likely cause an uproar in this Central American nation, and leave the Chapines' quest to qualify for their first-ever World Cup in severe jeopardy.
"We're definitely going for the win," Dublin summarized. "We know we're absolutely trying our best not to lose. At the end of the day we're going to go out and entertain the public, who go for goals and see football and at the end of the day we hope the result goes in our favor."
