- Simba French
- 2 hrs ago
- 0
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – After a torrential downpour and flash flooding on Saturday, the game between The Bahamas senior men’s national soccer team and Guyana was postponed from Saturday to noon yesterday. However, yesterday came and that match was postponed again, this time until further notice as tragedy struck Santo Domingo. Nine people died as a result of a highway wall collapsing during adverse weather.
The Bahamas and Guyana were set to play in the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) Nations League’s League B Group D. The game was set to be held at the Estadio Olímpico Félix Sánchez, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (DR). It was set to be a home game for The Bahamas, but because of ongoing repairs to the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium, the match is scheduled for elsewher
“The 23/24 CNL (CONCACAF Nations League) League B group stage match between The Bahamas and Guyana, scheduled to be played today at Estadio Olímpico Félix Sánchez, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, has been postponed following multiple days of adverse weather conditions affecting the area and a suspension of public and private activities announced by local authorities.”
The highway wall that collapsed was on the 27 de Febrero Avenue which is one of the roads that leads to the stadium. Local authorities were still trying to go through the rubble two hours before the match was set to start yesterday.
At the stadium, team officials from both The Bahamas and Guyana were present to discuss the next step which was to postpone the match as the country grapples with the tragedy. A total of 14 provinces, including Santo Domingo, were on red alert, according to the Dominican Republic’s Center of Emergency.
The venue already had the necessities in place such as field markings, corner flags, broadcast crew, two ambulances and a public announcement system. Half an hour after the match was scheduled to start, the grounds crew lifted the goal nets and removed the corner flags, signifying that the game was officially postponed.
Team Bahamas flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico, late last night, set to play against Puerto Rico in what was to be the final match for The Bahamas in the group stage. That game gets underway at the Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, at 8 p.m. tomorrow. This is a huge match for The Bahamas as the country has one point in the standings – three points behind Antigua and Barbuda who are in third place with four points.
Puerto Rico is coming off a 3-2 victory over Antigua and Barbuda on Saturday and they sit in second place in the group with nine points – three points behind Guyana who leads the group with 12 points.
The group winner will be promoted to League A while the second and third place teams stay in League B. The fourth place team will be relegated to League C.