A football team from the Caribbean had not made the Olympics since Curacao made the cut in 1952. The Dominican football team was the perfect description of an underdog, and grabbed a slot in the Concacaf U20 Championship that recently ended in Honduras. The team was ranked 23rd of 41 countries in the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) region.
President Luis Abinader has called the team national heroes.
With its participation in Honduras, the Dominican team grabbed a slot to the U20 World Cup in Indonesia and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The performance in Honduras also delivered a slot for the Dominican Republic to participate in the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile in 2023 and the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador in 2023.
A special Arajet flight returned the players to the Dominican Republic. The Dominican airline will be soon flying direct to Honduras.
During the Concacaf tournament, the Dominican team only lost to the United States in the finals.
To reach the finals of the tournament, the Dominican team defeated Anguilla 6-0, St. Martin and Belize 2-0, and tied with St. Lucia 2-2 to win the Group B of the first phase of the Concacaf championship and the ticket to the quarterfinals in Honduras.
In the quarterfinals in Honduras, the team defeated El Salvador 5-4, Jamaica 1-0 and Guatemala 2-2 winning in penalties with 4-2.
Team members are: Team director, former professional football player Iñaki Bea Jauregi. Players: Omry Bello, Xavier Valdez, Charbel Gonzalez, Guillermo de Peña, Sebatian Mañon, Thomas Jungbauer, Alfeni Tamarez, Israel Boatwright and Kleffer Martes. Also Yodry Alvarez, Angel Montes de Oca, team captain Edison Azcona, Luis Francisco. Bryan More, Adhonys Maria Vargas, Jason Yambatis Josep, Annier Rojas, Diefy Sandy Mensu and Anyelo Gomez. Coaches and staff are Walter Benite, coach Mariano Perez Tejeda, Luis Nova, Geancarlos Martinez, Leonardo Nuesi, Margin Zamora and Kelvin Ovalle. Ruben García is the president of the Dominican Football Federation.
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El Caribe
5 July 2022