Jamaica:
Few days ago, a goal from Jamaica vs. Grenada caught my attention so much and I kept watching it again and again. It reflects a lot of the beauty of the game, from bunch of guys who might not be as good as the big fishes in the world, but they were not any less entertaining then them at a moment like that.
Omar Delay scored this fantastic team work goal, combined with fantastic piece of skill from each player,
Jamaica itself and most of the nighbour has very modest history of football. Only one world cup record, in 1998, which ended up with two defeats from Croatia and Argentina and a 2-1 inspiring victory over Japan. Their best ever achievement in Gold Cup was the third place in 1993.
However, from time to time, countries like Jamaica might produce some very entertaining moments in football. Here are some of them that I have collected in this post:
This is few days earlier in a 2-0 victory over Guatemala with two very nice goals
And Jamaica got some nice memories, like this 1-0 victory over Mexico in 2010 WCQ with a great goal.
And this recent very nice goal vs. Honduras was almost a replica of that previous goal.
Yes, you get some lousy defense in Caribbean countries, which made El-Selvador to be the team with the heaviest WC defeat ever, with a 1-10 defeat in 1982 vs. Hungary. So, you can see Jamaica beating El-Selvador 3-0 but with some very nice goals.
To put things into perspective, I am putting this post about the beauty of the game and the skills, not the team strength, as for example Iran defeated Jamaica 8-1 in a friendly in 2007.
Haiti:
Another country is Haiti, with a very pathetic record on the game, with only one appearance in the World Cup in 1974, scoring twice and receiving 14 goals and three defeats.
Yet, the only two goals scored in that WC were of an excellent quality and beauty, and worth watching even after 37 years. Both were scored by the Haitian sport legend Emmanuel Sanon. The first was against Italy and is shown in every documentary of the 1974 WC, not for its quality, but because it was against the Italian legendary keeper Dino Zoff who didn't conceive any goal in the previous 19 games which was a keeper record to stay for more than two decades after that.
Sanon scored the opening goal, before his team received three from Italy.
The next game Haiti lost 0-7 from Poland, before losing 1-4 from Argentina. What's interesting is the quality of Sanon goal vs. Argentina. It is not famous, and it was one of the great goals that was left behind in the history of the WC:
More than three decades later, Haiti scored a replica against USA in the Gold Cup
Haiti and most other Caribbean teams remain very modest when it comes to football game, but from time to time, they produce jaw-dropping goals, like these two amazing goals vs. Canada in 2008 Olympic qualifications
Other moments, like this one, not as great, but for someone who enjoys every bit of the game, they are still worth enjoying.
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