LOOKOUT, Montserrat – Montserrat achieved its first win in over five years with Sunday’s 1-0 victory over Belize on Matchday Two of 2019/20 Concacaf Nations League Qualifying.
The last time Montserrat emerged victorious in Concacaf competition was a 1-0 win over the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2014 Caribbean Cup Qualifying, so there is no doubt that Sunday’s triumph was one to savor, not just for the Montserrat team, but also its coaches, officials and fans.
“[Sunday] night was something special for everyone associated with Montserrat,” said Montserrat FW Massiah McDonald in an exclusive interview with Concacaf.com.
“For the players, the staff, the fans and the people of Montserrat it was a sensational feeling for everyone involved. It was a very emotional feeling,” added McDonald.
For McDonald, Sunday’s result was the fruit of all the hard work that has been put in by those associated with Montserrat Football and could be the start of something very big for the Emerald Boys.
“Montserrat has come such a long way from being the small Caribbean island that nobody would take seriously. Now we feel we are a real attacking force. We have a solid team from back to front and a manager who knows what he is doing. He has a game plan and a style of play that works,” said McDonald.
Montserrat has also shown its quality and skill through the first two matchdays of the CNL. Last month in its CNL opener, Montserrat went toe-to-toe with Concacaf Gold Cup regulars El Salvador before suffering heartbreak when it lost 2-1 on a second half stoppage time goal.
Then on Sunday night, Spencer Weir-Daley supplied arguably the goal of the tournament with a fantastic curling right-footed shot for what turned out to be the winning goal. It is all feeding into Montserrat’s belief that it can become a force in Caribbean football.
“We narrowly missed out on a point against El Salvador after losing in the 94th minute in which we took a team of that caliber to the very end and they found it difficult to break us down. We now feel that we can compete and we can win games. We will now show the world what Montserrat are capable of,” concluded McDonald.
