1994 Caribbean Cup
The Shell Caribbean Cup 1994 was the fifth edition of the Caribbean Cup, the football championship of the Caribbean, one of the CONCACAF zones. The final stage was hosted by Trinidad and Tobago.
Qualifying Tournament
Group 1
Anomaly
There was an unusual match between Barbados and Grenada.
Grenada went into the match with a superior goal difference, meaning that Barbados needed to win by two goals to progress to the finals. The trouble was caused by two things. First, unlike most group stages in football competitions, the organizers had deemed that all games must have a winner. All games drawn over 90 minutes would go to sudden death extra time. Secondly and most importantly, there was an unusual rule which stated that in the event of a game going to sudden death extra time the goal would count double, meaning that the winner would be awarded a two goal victory.
Barbados was leading 2-0 until the 83rd minute, when Grenada scored, making it 2-1. Approaching the dying moments, the Barbadians realized they had little chance of scoring past Grenada's mass defense in the time available, so they deliberately scored an own goal to tie the game at 2-2. This would send the game into extra time and give them another half hour to break down the defense. The Grenadians realized what was happening and attempted to score an own goal as well, which would put Barbados back in front by one goal and would eliminate Barbados from the competition.
However, the Barbados players started defending their opposition's goal to prevent them from doing this, and during the game's last five minutes, the fans were treated to the incredible sight of Grenada trying to score in either goal while Barbados defended both ends of the pitch. Barbados successfully held off Grenada for the final five minutes, sending the game into extra time. In extra time, Barbados notched the game-winner, and, according to the rules, was awarded a 4-2 victory, which put them through to the next round.[1][2][3]
Group 2
Played in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Group 3
Played in Suriname
Group 4
Played in Saint Kitts and Nevis
The match between Dominica and Montserrat was cancelled because of crowd trouble.
Group 5
Played in Cayman Islands
Group 6
Cuba withdrew.
Final tournament
First round
Played in Trinidad and Tobago.
Group A
Group B
Semi-finals
3rd place match
Final
References
- ^ Football Follies: A soccer team advanced in a cup match by deliberately scoring against itself.: snopes.com article.
- ^ Longmore, Andrew. in Sport "Absurd Cup Rule Obscures Football's Final Goal." 1 February 1994.
- ^ The Guardian. "Sixth Column." 5 February 1994 (Sports; p. 17). Made of CFU (Caribbean Football Union)