BRIDGETOWN-Second-half substitute Pedro Nunez scored with ten minutes remaining to lift the Dominican Republic to a 1-0 victory over host Barbados on Tuesday, moving it atop its group in Caribbean Football Union Cup qualifiers with one match to play. Earlier Tuesday, Kurlson Benjamin scored twice to give Dominica a 3-2 victory over Aruba, leaving it one point behind the Dominican Republic in Group Four and setting up a rematch between the namesakes today (Thursday) for a possible place in the next round. The Dominican Republic, which drew with Aruba 2-2 on Sunday, led with four points, one ahead of both Dominica and Barbados. Today, Barbados, 1-0 winner over Dominica in its first match on Sunday, faces Aruba, which has one point and has been eliminated from contention.
Only the group winner is assured of advancing along with the best second-place team from either Group Four or Group Five.
Two years ago, Dominica beat the Dominican Republic 1-0 in Santo Domingo in their final first-round game to advance.
Nunez entered the game Tuesday in the 66th minute, the second straight match he came on in the second half, replacing Jonathan Fana and scoring 14 minutes later. In the other game, Benjamin scored in the 45th and 77th minutes, the latter 16 minutes after Reinhard Breinburg was issued a second yellow card and ejected, to spark Dominica. Chad Bertrand gave Dominica the lead in the 36th minute, but Aruba rallied to take the lead with Jean-Luc Bergen's equalizer four minutes later and Frederic Gomez's go-ahead goal in the 55th.
Eight-time champion T&T "Soca Warriors" will begin its attempt to qualify for the CFU Cup finals against French Guyana on October 10, in the opening match of a first round Group Five double-header in Basseterre, St Kitts, from 5 pm. T&T, which last won the title in 2001 and was eliminated in the group stage of the 2008 and 2010 finals, will also face host Anguilla on October 12 followed by host St Kitts/Nevis two days later in the four-team group. The Soca Warriors enjoy an impressive finals record at home, having won five finals played in T&T in 1992, 1994, 1996, 1999 and 2001 before losing in 2007 against Haiti while it has also won in 1989, 1995 and 1997. Jamaica has won the title six times (1991, 1998, 2005, 2008 and 2010) and Martinique, the only other country to lift the CFU crown, in 1993. Group Two will open on October 21 with Guyana against St Vincent & the Grenadines and host St Lucia against Curacao in Gros Islet, St Lucia.
The winners from each of the five groups along with the runners-up from Groups One to Three will advance to the second round while the best runner-up from either Group Four or Group Five also will advance. The second round will comprise three groups of four teams with Grenada, Guadeloupe and Cuba seeded in one of the groups. The top two teams from each second round group will advance to the finals December 3-16 in Antigua & Barbuda with the host nation and two-time defending champion, Jamaica. Four teams will qualify for next year's Concacaf Gold Cup. Already through to the next round are Group One winner Haiti and runner-up Puerto Rico as well as Martinique and Suriname, the first and second-placed teams from Group Three.
CFU Caribbean Cup First Round
Remaining Groups & Fixtures:
Group Two
At Gros Islet, St Lucia
October 21
Guyana vs SVG, 5 pm.
St Lucia vs Curacao, 7.30 pm.
Oct 23
Curacao vs Guyana, 6 pm.
St Lucia vs SVG, 8.30 pm.
Oct 25
SVG vs Curacao, 6 pm.
St Lucia vs Guyana, 8.30 pm.
Group Five
At Basseterre, St Kitts
Oct 10
French Guyana vs T&T, 5 pm.
St Kitts/Nevis vs Anguilla, 7 pm.
Oct 12
Anguilla vs T&T, 5 pm.
St Kitts/Nevis vs French Guyana, 7 pm.
Oct 14
French Guyana vs Anguilla, 5 pm.
St Kitts/Nevis vs T&T, 7 pm.
