Sunday, July 10, 2011

U.S. Virgin Islands 2 - British Virgin Islands 1; Dominican Republic 4 - Anguilla 0

The battle of the Virgin Islands resumed today with the scene shifting to Tortola, British Virgin Islands. The U.S. Virgin Islands held a 2-0 lead in the aggregate-goals series after their first-leg victory one week ago.

The U.S. territory wasted no time in extending their lead after scoring the opener in the very first minute. The British territory knew they were up against the wall at that point, needing to score four goals from that point on to advance to the second round. One of those four goals was pulled back in the first half, which ended in a 1-1 tie. In the second half, the British Virgin Islands were unable to put together any goal, much less three, and to add insult to injury, the U.S. Virgin Islands scored in second-half stoppage time to win the day 2-1.

The U.S. Virgin Islands advance to the second round of qualifying for the first time after registering their first ever home and road victories in the FIFA World Cup. The U.S. territory wins the series by an aggregate score of 4-1 to banish their British counterparts to the sidelines for the remainder of the tournament. This was quite a performance for a side that had lost all five of its previous qualifiers in its history.

The Dominican Republic faced Anguilla for the second time in three days in San Cristóbal. This time around, the Dominican Republic actually were the designated home team, though they had won as "visitors" two days ago by a score of 2-0.

The Dominican Republic made quick work of Anguilla today, scoring three goals in the first half and a fourth in the second to win the match 4-0. Eerily, the Dominican Republic eliminate Anguilla by the same aggregate scoreline of 6-0 by which they eliminated Anguilla in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The Dominican Republic advance to learn their fate at the preliminary draw on July 30.

Goals:
U.S. Virgin Islands
Dwayne Thomas 1
Reid Klopp 90+3

British Virgin Islands
Trevor Peters 37

Dominican Republic
Inoel Navarro 18, 42
Jhoan Sanchez 25
Jonathan Faña 56

Match Reports:

Highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bnu2-JpXK4I (Dominican Republic v. Anguilla)

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