Martinique must win or draw against Guadeloupe to ensure their place in the finals in Jamaica come December.
Tuesday, October 14 – Les Abymes, Guadeloupe: With Guadeloupe at 6 points and Martinique with 4 points in Stage 2 of the Digicel Caribbean Championships, Martinique must win or draw to ensure their place in the finals in Jamaica come December.
Grenada currently has 1 point and if they win against Cayman Islands on Wednesday October 15 they will have collected 4 points. Therefore, if Martinique concedes to Guadeloupe in their final match, also on Wednesday, it will all come down to goal difference between them and Grenada.
Martinique Captain Patrick Percin explains the difficulties ahead: “It will be a very hard game to predict because Guadeloupe and Martinique are friendly rivals and Guadeloupe has many professional European players on their team. We beat them in France last month but they did not play with these players, so they will be a stronger team this time. Watching them play in the DCC we notice that Guadeloupe is more physical and the players are bigger in stature. We will have to prepare both physically and mentally for Wednesday’s match.”
However, Percin predicts a good outcome on Wednesday: “I predict it will be a 0-0 draw and we both will go to the finals in Jamaica.”
Martinique Technical Director, Jocelyn Germe agrees with the Captain: “I think we may draw, but we cannot afford to lose. We must either win or draw.”
On the other side, Guadeloupe Head Coach Roger Salnot feels similar to his French neighbours: “It is very important for us to either win or draw against Martinique as we want to be number 1 in this group so that we will play in Group I with Haiti.”
Guadeloupe’s star player Mickael Antoine-Curier welcomes the challenge: “It will be a tough game and we just have to go for it. It will be a great achievement if we win. We will need to rest to be ready for Wednesday.”
Guadeloupe ended at 4th place in the 2006/2007 DCC, after being knocked out by Haiti, and made it to the semi-finals of the 2007 Gold Cup. Martinique made it to the quarter-finals of the 2006/2007 DCC, after being defeated by Trinidad & Tobago and Haiti, and did not qualify for the 2007 Gold Cup.
Martinique and friendly rivals Guadeloupe will face off on Wednesday October 15 to make an exciting end to Group F in Stage 2 of the Digicel Caribbean Championships.
