Nations League: Cayman hoping to 'return home with wins'

The Cayman Islands men’s national football team is heading to St. Kitts and Nevis to conclude their group stage of the 2024-25 CONCACAF Nations League with a pair of fixtures, beginning on 12 Oct.

For the Cayman team, it’s about getting another three points off the British Virgin Islands before trying to avenge their home defeat last month at the hands of St. Kitts.

Alfredo Whittaker, president of the Cayman Islands Football Association, said he expects his squad to regain the momentum which was lost at their last outing.

“This team has shown the desire to get the job done, shown great improvement, and the team knows what they are playing for, so going into these two games we are looking forward to great performances and looking to return home with wins,” Whittaker told the Compass.

Cayman picked up a 1-0 win last month over BVI in their first-leg encounter, after Elijah Seymour found the back of the net – marking Cayman’s second consecutive victory, excluding their unfortunate forced forfeit to Cuba.

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They will play BVI once more on Saturday, 12 Oct., and then St. Kitts and Nevis on Tuesday, 15 Oct., with both matches at the Warner Park Football Stadium.

The St. Kitts match, in particular, is one that Whittaker is most looking forward to after Cayman suffered a controversial loss to that team at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex.

“The players have revenge in mind,” Whittaker said. “They went into that first game with the belief that they would have a good competition against St. Kitts and indeed it was, especially in the second half.

“Regardless of the score, three of the four goals was in an offside position. but we can always improve and we are looking forward to it.”

Though Cayman will be on a mission to grab a victory, they will have to take to the pitch without key striker Gunnar Studenhofft.

“Unfortunately, we had made numerous attempts to get Gunnar to play at least one of these games and we haven’t been successful,” Whittaker said, telling the Compass that Studenhofft’s coach at the University of South Florida has not responded to CIFA’s requests.

“Sometimes the coaches don’t even answer their phone call,” Whittaker said. “So, we have to continue to prepare the team with who we have in hand.”

League C consists of three groups, including group C where Cayman is placed. The group winners and the best second-place finisher from League C will advance to the CONCACAF Nations League play-in, which will take place during the FIFA match window of November.