The strange match for the Caribbean Cup where the own goals win!

We travel back in time, to the enchanting places of the Caribbean that have amazed all those who have visited these attractive places for its beautiful beaches, mountains, rainforests, culture, cuisine, and diverse wildlife. Our story is also connected to the Caribbean.

The event we will now discuss is extremely strange and almost unbelievable, which goes against the principles and purpose of the beautiful game of football.

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On January 27, 1994, the national football teams of Barbados and Grenada played against each other as part of the qualification round for the 1994 Caribbean Cup. Barbados won 4–2 in extra time. In the last minutes of regular time, both teams attempted to score own goals! The result has been described as “one of the strangest matches ever”

At the time, the match did not receive much attention, although reports were published in the UK in The Guardian and The Times. The story has since been told in the 2005 book, Sports Law. The lack of immediate attention to this bizarre match may have contributed to the event itself becoming something of an urban legend in sports.

The 1994 edition was the fifth for the Caribbean Cup as one of the CONCACAF zones, the finals of which were held in Trinidad and Tobago. Among other things, it is also known as the Caribbean Cup “Shell”, because of the sponsor “Shell” that holds this event itself.
8 was the number of teams participating in the finals that were divided into 2 groups of 4 teams, where the first two teams of each group played the semi-finals and then the grand finale that was won by Trinidad and Tobago which defeated Martinique 7-2, raising the trophy for the third time. So far everything is in order and resembles a normality of the development of any trophy or continental event.
Beautiful!

Trinidad-Tobago the winner team in 1994 with Pele in the center.

But the “strange event” that the reader is waiting to learn about occurred in one of the qualifying matches of this cup. The 21 teams participating in these qualifiers were divided into 6 teams to produce 8 finalists.

At the time, FIFA had been testing variations on tournament rules about “the Golden Goal”. In this Cup, the tournament organizers implemented a strange and completely unusual rule; each match was required to have a winner. If the two teams had the same score after 90 minutes, they played a sudden death extra time, in which the golden goal counted as two goals(!!!).

If neither team scored in extra time, then a penalty shootout would determine the winner.
But no one had imagined how bad and pointless the operation of this rule would turn out to be.

The anomaly occurred in the first qualifying group, which included Grenada, Barbados and Puerto Rico. In the first match that opened the group, Barbados lost to Puerto Rico at home (0-1) on January 23, 1994.

Two days later, Grenada defeated Puerto Rico (2-0) at home with a “Golden Goal” in extra time, (we remind readers that the “Golden Goal” had double value, so the result was recorded as 2-0).

2.

Now only the match between Barbados and Grenada scheduled to be played at the Barbados National Stadium, in “Saint Michael”, is left, precisely the match that will turn into a farce.
Before this match the standings was this:
1.Grenada 3 points / 2-0 goals. | 2. Puerto Rico 3 Points 1-2 goals
3. Barbados 0 points 0-1.

Barbados definitely needed a victory with a two-goal difference to qualify.

The decisive qualifying match for the group started and developed with the normality of a challenge. Barbados managed to score two goals, leading 2-0 and fulfilling the need to qualify. However, in the 83rd minute, Grenada scored a goal, ruining the plans of the home players of Barbados.

2-1, means that Barbados needed to score a third goal to qualify, while Granada was already qualified with this result.

And here where this story gets crazy!

Then the home players rush forward to score the goal that would lead them to qualification. But in vain is their effort, while time is running out. The Granados decide on another strategy, another path to qualification. They could let the challenge end in a draw and the match based on the implemented rule would go to extra time, while scoring the Golden goal with double value could qualify the Barbados players.

And so it was decided in silence precisely in the last three minutes. In the 87th minute they stopped any kind of attack attempt and began to circulate the ball back. Barbados defender Sealey and goalkeeper Stoute are passing each other the ball.

And here Sealey releases a shot on his goal and ….

2-2 with an own goal.

(Watch the video clip below)

Qualification thanks to the fool double value “golden goal” rule, is still valid.

Meanwhile, Grenada’s opponents have understood the trick, and they are quick to counter with their strategy. They know that even if they lose 3-2, they will still qualify on goal difference. So the Grenadians rush to score in both nets, while Barbados now has to defend the opponent’s goal, in addition to their own, to go to extra time.

This saw normal time finish in a highly unusual manner, with Grenada trying to score a goal in (and Barbados trying to defend) both nets!

For the next three minutes, Barbadian players successfully defended both sides!
As 90 minutes had expired with the score at 2–2, the game went on to extra time, where the winning “golden goal” would count double — thus, Barbados only had to score once to qualify for the 1994 Caribbean Cup.

Trevor Thorne scored the winning goal for Barbados to advance to the next round with a score of 4–2!

In a press conference after the match, Grenadian manager James Clarkson said:
“I feel cheated. The person who invented these rules should be a candidate for a madhouse…
The game should never be played with so many players running around the pitch in confusion. Our players didn’t even know which way to attack: our goal or the opponent’s. I’ve never seen this happen before. In football, you have to score against the opponents to win, not to score in your own goal to win”.

Exactly, because the principle of the game of football itself is to score, to score a goal in the opponent’s goal, and an own goal is just an unwanted incident that goes against you.

All of this resulted from FIFA’s implementation of the “Golden Goal” rule test and above all the Caribbean Cup organizers who wanted, to avoid a draw by giving this rule the absurd value of two goals, where FIFA and IFAB themselves later in 2002 will eliminate it from the regulations.

By Pjerin Bj
Ecklusivity on this page holds the date of November 21, 2024
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Sports Vision / Champions Hour in activity since 2013