Montserrat national football team

The Montserrat national team is one of the newest in international football, having played its first senior match on 10 May 1991 during the 1991 Caribbean Cup tournament. The team suffered a 0–3 defeat to Saint Lucia at the Vieux Fort National Stadium in Saint Lucia. The team played their next match at the same venue, securing a 1–1 draw with Anguilla. Montserrat again entered the Caribbean Cup the following year but were once more knocked out in the Group Stage following heavy defeats to Saint Kitts and Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda. They were drawn against the same two teams for the 1994 Caribbean Cup, but again left the tournament at the Group Stage after conceding 17 goals in just two matches. In 1994, the Montserrat Football Association (MFA) was formed. Like all other Caribbean football teams, the MFA became a member of CONCACAF.

On 26 March 1995, Montserrat played their first ever home international match. They defeated Anguilla 3–2 in Plymouth, achieving their first win. The team beat Anguilla again in the next fixture to ensure progress to the Second Qualifying Round of the 1995 Caribbean Cup. The 1–0 win in the second leg was their only clean sheet in international football to date and is also their most recent victory. The side exited the competition in the next stage, losing 0–20 on aggregate over two legs against Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Soon afterwards, the Soufriere Hills volcano became active and the eruptions destroyed Plymouth, the capital of Montserrat, severely disrupting all football on the island. Despite the lack of football action, the MFA became a full FIFA member in 1996. However, it was a further three years until the Montserrat team played another international fixture. This was mostly because many of the island's footballers had emigrated away from the area, many of them to England.

After a four-year hiatus, the team entered the 1999 Caribbean Nations Cup. They were knocked out in the Preliminary Round of the tournament, losing 1–6 over two legs to the British Virgin Islands. Due to the volcanic activity, Montserrat had been unable to enter the FIFA World Cup for the 1998 tournament, so their entry into the 2002 World Cup qualification campaign was their first. Their inaugural World Cup conquest was not a success as they were defeated 0–3 away by the Dominican Republic. In the second leg, played in Trinidad and Tobago, the team fell to a 1–3 loss in front of a crowd of only 50 spectators. In 2001, the MFA visited The Football Association to raise money for a new stadium. The Blakes Estate Stadium was opened near the village of Look Out. The team's next match happened on 30 June 2002, the day of the World Cup Final, when Montserrat played Bhutan in a game known as "The Other Final". The friendly match between the two lowest-ranked teams in the world ended with a 4–0 win for Bhutan in front of 15,000 fans in Thimphu.

Montserrat entered the World Cup qualifiers once more for the 2006 edition of the competition, but again lost in the First Qualifying Round, this time losing 0–20 on aggregate to Bermuda. In the first leg at the Bermuda National Stadium they lost 0–13, which is their heaviest-ever defeat. The second leg, a 0–7 loss, was the first international match played at the team's new ground and was watched by 250 supporters. Montserrat then competed in the 2005 Caribbean Cup, but once more failed to progress past the Premilinary Round. In the team's most recent match in 2008, they were defeated 1–7 by Suriname in the First Qualifying Round of the 2010 World Cup. The match was played in Macoya because neither team's stadiums met FIFA standards.

A friendly against a Network Rail XI was played at Charlton Athletic's Valley stadium on May 19, 2012, ending in a 4–4 draw.

Montserrat achieved their first victory since 1995 and their first ever victory since joining FIFA, beating the British Virgin Islands 7–0 in a 2012 Caribbean Championship qualifying match, held in Martinique.[4]

Montserrat's fortunes changed dramatically in 2018 with the arrival of Willie Donachie and launch of the CONCACAF Nations League. The side won 3 of their four qualifying games, but missed out on qualification for the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup on goal difference after Nicaragua scored with 25 minutes to go against Barbados, to take the Emerald Boys' Gold Cup place.[5]

As of 19 November 2019[6]

Against	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	GD	% Won
Anguilla	4	2	1	1	6	7	−1	50%
Antigua and Barbuda	1	0	0	1	4	5	−1	0%
Aruba	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2	100%
Barbados	1	0	0	1	0	5	−5	0%
Belize	3	1	0	2	4	8	−4	33%
Bermuda	2	0	0	2	0	20	−20	0%
Bhutan	1	0	0	1	0	4	−4	0%
Bonaire	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0%
British Virgin Islands	3	1	0	2	8	6	+2	33%
Cayman Islands	1	1	0	0	2	1	1	100%
Curaçao	2	0	1	1	3	4	−1	0%
Dominican Republic	4	1	1	2	3	7	−4	25%
El Salvador	3	0	0	3	1	5	−4	0%
Martinique	1	0	0	1	0	5	−5	0%
Saint Kitts and Nevis	2	0	0	2	1	10	−9	0%
Saint Lucia	3	1	1	1	2	4	−2	33%
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	1	0	0	1	0	7	−7	0%
Suriname	2	0	0	2	2	14	−12	0%
U.S. Virgin Islands	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1	100%
Total	37	9	5	23	38	113	−75	24%

Note: teams in italic indicates that teams are not FIFA members.

The poor results of the team has seen them often frequenting the lower end of the FIFA World Rankings. The loss to Bhutan in "The Other Final" saw them fall to #203 in the rankings, becoming worst-ranked side in the world. After the addition of another two teams to FIFA, Montserrat achieved a new low of #205 between July and October 2004. In July 2006, they achieved a record high rank of #196 but they fell back down to #198 the following month. As of February 2019 Montserrat are #200 out of 211 in the rankings, just ahead of Sri Lanka.[7]

The team have also traditionally languished at the lower reaches of the unofficial World Football Elo Ratings, which ranks teams directly based on their match results.

Since the team's first match in 1991, Montserrat have usually worn a first-choice kit of green, either plain green [8] or green and white hoops.[9] Currently, the away kit is red jersey, shorts and socks.

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

2019

Montserrat  v  Dominican Republic

7 September Nations League B	Montserrat	2–1	Dominican Republic	Lookout, Montserrat
15:00	J. Comley  29' A. Clifton  65'	Report	J. García  23'	Stadium: Blakes Estate Stadium Referee: Sergio Reyna (Guatemala)

Montserrat  v  Saint Lucia

10 September Nations League B	Montserrat	1–1	Saint Lucia	Lookout, Montserrat
16:00	Weir-Daley  45'	Report	Frederick  87' (pen.)	Stadium: Blakes Estate Stadium Referee: Nelson Salgado (Honduras)

Montserrat  v  El Salvador

12 October Nations League B	Montserrat	0–2	El Salvador	Lookout, Montserrat
22:00		Report	Domínguez  43' Zelaya  78'	Stadium: Blakes Estate Stadium Referee: Juan Calderón (Costa Rica)

Dominican Republic  v  Montserrat

15 October Nations League B	Dominican Republic	0–0	Montserrat	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
19:15		Report		Stadium: Estadio Olímpico Félix Sánchez Referee: Raúl Castro Zuniga (Honduras)

El Salvador  v  Montserrat

16 November Nations League B	El Salvador	1–0	Montserrat	San Salvador, El Salvador
22:00	Portillo  90+1'	Report		Stadium: Estadio Cuscatlán Referee: Oliver Vergara (Panama)

Saint Lucia  v  Montserrat

19 November Nations League B	Saint Lucia	0–1	Montserrat	Gros Islet, Saint Lucia
17:30		Report	Pond  35'	Stadium: Darren Sammy Cricket Ground Referee: Oshane Nation (Jamaica)

The following players were called up for the CONCACAF Nations League vs  El Salvador and  Saint Lucia on 16 and 19 November 2019.[10]

Caps/goals correct as of 19 November 2019 after the game against  Saint Lucia.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Corrin Brooks-Meade	(1988-03-19) 19 March 1988	12	0	Unattached
21	1GK	Micah Hilton	(1985-10-02) 2 October 1985	3	0	Police
2	2DF	Michael Williams	(1988-02-05) 5 February 1988	13	0	Stone Old Alleynians
5	2DF	Joey Taylor	(1997-08-18) 18 August 1997	10	1	Staines Town
22	2DF	Craig Braham-Barrett (vice-captain)	(1988-09-01) 1 September 1988	10	0	Dartford
19	2DF	Nathan Pond	(1985-01-05) 5 January 1985	4	1	Salford City
15	2DF	Marshall Willock	(2000-04-07) 7 April 2000	2	0	Peterborough Sports
23	3MF	Dean Mason	(1989-02-28) 28 February 1989	14	0	Hayes & Yeading United
18	3MF	Alex Dyer	(1990-06-11) 11 June 1990	13	0	Elfsborg
11	3MF	James Comley (vice-captain)	(1991-01-24) 24 January 1991	10	1	Maidenhead United
10	3MF	Brandon Comley	(1995-11-18) 18 November 1995	9	0	Colchester United
14	3MF	Solomon Henry	(1983-10-21) 21 October 1983	7	0	Unattached
12	3MF	Matthew Whichelow	(1991-09-28) 28 September 1991	3	0	Unattached
8	4FW	Bradley Woods-Garness	(1986-06-26) 26 June 1986	13	4	Unattached
7	4FW	Spencer Weir-Daley	(1985-09-05) 5 September 1985	12	3	Peterborough Sports
20	4FW	Massiah McDonald	(1991-08-20) 20 August 1991	10	0	Ilkeston Town
13	4FW	Jamie Allen	(1995-05-25) 25 May 1995	2	0	F.C. Halifax Town

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up to the Montserrat squad in the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
DF	Calvin Petrie	(1984-02-09) 9 February 1984	8	0	Epping Town	v.  Dominican Republic, 16 October 2019
DF	Dajour Buffonge	(1996-01-29) 29 January 1996	1	0	Ware	v.  Saint Lucia, 10 September 2019
DF	D'Andre Willock	(2002-02-18) 18 February 2002	0	0	Unattached	v.  Saint Lucia, 10 September 2019
MF	Adrian Clifton	(1989-02-21) 21 February 1989	9	2	Bromley	v.  Dominican Republic, 16 October 2019
MF	Ahijah Daley	(2001-05-04) 4 May 2001	0	0	Ideal	v.  Dominican Republic, 16 October 2019
MF	Mark Rogers	(2002-05-06) 6 May 2002	0	0	Ideal	v.  Dominican Republic, 16 October 2019
MF	Shemarie Perkins	(2002-04-04) 4 April 2002	0	0	Concord Rangers	v.  Saint Lucia, 10 September 2019
FW	Seigel Rodney	(2003-10-02) 2 October 2003	0	0	Ideal	v.  Dominican Republic, 16 October 2019
FW	Lyle Taylor (captain)	(1990-03-29) 29 March 1990	6	1	Charlton Athletic	v.  Saint Lucia, 10 September 2019

• Willie Donachie (2018–)
• Lenny Hewlett (2013–2015)
• Kenny Dyer (2008–2013)
• Cecil Lake (2008)
• Ruel Fox (2004)
• Scott Cooper (2004)
• William Lewis (2002–2004)[11][12]
• Paul Morris (2000–2002)

• RSSSF archive of Montserrat national team results
• National Football Teams
• Guardian article which refers to Montserrat's 2012 match against a Network Rail XI