Montserrat v Haiti Preview: What’s at stake & how to watch.

What’s at stake? Monserrat is looking to qualify for this year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup, to be held in Las Vegas, but it will be tough. Haiti appears to have an unassailable lead at the top of the table, which will give them automatic qualification as well as promotion to the newly enlarged Nations League A.…

“My main job is recruitment” – Interview with Montserrat Coach Matt Lockwood

The link below is to an interview with Matt Lockwood, Montserrat's new Head Coach, which took place on the Essex-based radio station Pheonix FM on 25th January. The five minutes about Montserrat start at 45 minutes in, and it seems to be the first public announcement of his appointment. He said that he had been…

Who casts Montserrat’s votes for FIFA’s Player of the Year?

Last month Lionel Messi and Alexia Putellas were announced as the FIFA men's and women's footballers of the year. But who decides? I've always known it is a vote, but I haven't really bothered to look at who is voting before now. And I was surprised. I looked up the Montserrat page on the FIFA…

A New Head Coach for the Emerald Boys

Montserrat has found a new Head Coach, or Technical Director as the FIFA website describes him. Despite the typically low-profile marketing, Monserrat plays the 2019 Gold Cup semi-finalists Haiti at the Blakes Football Complex in just over two weeks' time. A change to the competition format means Monserrat can no longer be relegated, but Haiti…

Montserrat Saved: CONCACAF scraps relegation in Nations League revamp

Monserrat is currently sitting at the bottom of its League B group with two rounds to go in this season's Nations League Tournament. It looked like it needed to pick up points in difficult fixtures against Haiti and Guyana to avoid relegation to League C, but instead, and to facilitate a revamp of the tournament,…

Montserrat’s game against Guyana moved to Barbados

The Guyana Football Federation has moved next month’s Guyana v Montserrat Nations League fixture to the Wildey Stadium in Barbados. The game will be played on 28th March. The statement read: “The decision to move the match from Guyana to Barbados was approved by Concacaf following a thorough review of facilities here, including the National…

Montserrat joins USSR and Estonia in not turning up for a competitive fixture

The Concacaf website is now showing last June’s cancelled Bermuda v Montserrat Nations League fixture as a 3-0 win to Bermuda.  As people may remember, Montserrat failed to turn up, pulling out with 4 days' notice, and without any public explanation. There has still been no public statement despite the Montserrat FA having been notified…

Haiti 3 Montserrat 2: Nations League game 2

As we knew from the moment the draw was made, this is going to be a tough couple of weeks for Montserrat. Arguably the top team in each of the four Group B pots were drawn together, with Montserrat facing three recent Gold Cup qualifiers. These include Haiti, who took Mexico to extra time in…

Montserrat in the Nations League: How to Watch

It's that time again. In the lead up to Montserrat's international football matches those of us who want to know, scour the internet to find out who is in the squad and how we can watch. So far I can see from the player's videos and photos that Donachie is still in charge and Pond,…

Montserrat’s Home Nations League Games to be Played Abroad

The current public health crisis has led to the Montserrat football team’s upcoming home Nation’s League games being moved to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. The away match against Haiti will also be played there before Montserrat moves on to its final game of the window against Bermuda at the Flora Duffy Arena. The…

Montserrat Drawn in the Nations League Group of Death

Monday 4th April saw the draw for the 22/23 version of the CONCACAF Nations League in Miami. Montserrat held onto its League B status following wins in the inaugural 20/21 season against the Dominican Republic and St Lucia. However, the seedings this time around suggested another tough group lay ahead. So it turned out. Montserrat…

Clifton’s goal against Cayman Islands: With added sound effects courtesy of ITV.

Boreham Wood's remarkable run to the 5th round of the FA Cup has brought global attention to Montserrat striker Adrian Clifton. A few years ago, former Arsenal youth player Clifton, featured in a documentary "Football Behind Bars" hosted by former Arsenal striker, Ian Wright. A short film reuniting the two was shown as part of…

Book Review: The Smell of Football 2 – Baz Rathbone (The Montserrat Years).

This post is uncharted territory for me: A book review. But I've been waiting for the book to appear ever since Mick Rathbone mentioned on Twitter that he was doing a sequel to his well-received and now incredibly rare autobiography, The Smell of Football. This was sometime in 2020, I think. It's available in print…

Montserrat Beaten 6-1. “They Rolled us Over and Tickled our Bellies”

It was the match that was never meant to be. Montserrat was due to play a two-legged Gold Cup qualifier against Guatemala, but then along came COVID-19 and football was shut down for a year. To catch up, Concacaf put the twelve teams competing for the final three places into a preliminary tournament to be…

Montserrat v Trinidad: How to Watch (and Squad Details)

This is how to watch Montserrat v Trinidad and Tobago in the Gold Cup. It's what I know so far and I will update nearer the time if I find out anything else. A VPN may be necessary. In the UK the rights are owned by Freesports, which is a free channel. Unfortunately they have…

Montserrat v Trinidad: Gold Cup Tickets are now on Sale

Montserrat will play Trinidad and Tobago in the Gold Cup Preliminary Round on 2nd July. Tickets went on sale today, priced between $20 and $45. Ticket holders will get to see all three preliminary round games played that day: Haiti v St Vincent and the Grenadines, Bermuda v Barbados, and Montserrat v Trinidad. The winners…

Grenada 1 Montserrat 2 – Unbeaten but Eliminated.

It is frustrating that Montserrat keeps coming up against El Salvador. La Selecta, as the team is known, is one of the top sides in the region and incredibly difficult to beat. Since Willie Donachie took over as coach Montserrat has played 15 games. Their record against El Salvador is one draw and three defeats.…

How to watch Grenada v Montserrat

Well it could happen. Montserrat will need a 5-0 win to hang on to any chance of qualifying for the next round of the World Cup. Stranger things have happened, but not often, and Gold Cup qualification is looking the more likely option. A good result in Grenada, who have already booked their place in…

Montserrat 4 US Virgin Islands 0. World Cup Qualifier.

Montserrat took another step toward FIFA World Cup qualification last night with a 4-0 win over the US Virgin Islands. It was a game Montserrat was expected to win comfortably, despite the fact that the island has never previously won a World Cup match. But they needed to win big to keep their hopes alive…

I’m now a Remote Journalist Too

This blogging lark gets you a long way. First, I blogged my way to a senior remote working job in the UK whilst living in Montserrat, and I’ve now blogged my way to journalist's accreditation for Montserrat’s Gold Cup games in the USA. Believe it or not, that was always the plan, and I have…