16
« on: December 10, 2018, 09:20:19 AM »
Hope is a 25-year-old winger who currently plays for English League Two club Carlisle United. He was born in England but qualifies to play for Barbados through his father.
Twenty-eight-year-old defender Pearce represents Mansfield Town, also in League Two. The six-footer has played for England at the Under-17 and Under-19 levels, and qualifies for Barbados duty also through his father.
Hope scored both goals to tied the game with Guyana 2-2 . Both were still eligible to play for Barbados providing they changed their alliance from England to Barbados and had gotten clearance from FIFA., Barbados submitted the application for both Hope and Pierce but they couldn't wait for FIFA clearance and used them both in the game against Guyana prior to FIFA approval.
Even though a player born elsewhere may be eligible to represent his country, he/she still has to be cleared by FIFA. Guyana knew all about it even before the game..filed a complaint with FIFA and won.
Now with 3-0 automatic win, 6 points and a + 10 goals difference, Guyana can be qualify for a GOLD cup spot and even can even find themselves in league A next year with a win over Belize and some losses by the top 6 teams in the nation league
That's not the first time this happen to Barbados. In a WCQ game against Aruba, they submitted an application with FIFA 2 days before a WCQ game and used the player before FIFA clearance and got disqualified.
Haiti , Jamaica, T&T who also used a lot of foreign based players, players from MLS and from other league never got disqualified because they played their cards well. It's the lower rank Caribbean teams who always got them-self in trouble..