It was with joy that the inhabitants of Saint Kitts and Nevis, a small island in the Antilles, welcomed the surprising news that came in August of 2016. Indeed, their national team would become the second antillian nation after Trinidad and Tobago to qualify for the Nations League. The small island nation hadn't qualified for a major tournament before, and qualified on the last possible slot: the 80th place of the FIFA ranking, placing them into the fourth slot.
No one expected them to do well, especially when the draw was made, placing the inexperienced squad with Peru, South Korea and the Congo. In truth, no one expected them to get more than a possible miracle point against the Congo, whom they'd meet in the first game. As such, it was a packed Warner Park that welcomed the squads of Saint Kitts and Congo on September 15th, with 200 people actually sitting on the stairs, the 8,000 seats having been filled already. Earlier that day, South Korea and Peru had drawn 0-0, putting the possibility forward of Saint Kitts being in front of South Korea and Peru, if only for a time, in the standings. And it was there that Saint Kitts managed to shock even their die-hard fans. Indeed, Saint Kitts opened up the scoreline thanks to a goal from Hanley, before dominating much of the rest of the first half. Unfortunately, Congo would get a goal thanks to Onanguie, making it 1-1 at half-time. Congo then dominated the second-half, forcing Saint Kitts goalkeeper Archibold to come up with two huge saves which kept the scoreline at 1-1. This was heralded as a miracle result as Saint Kitts took provisional second place in the group.
Two weeks later, it seemed that things had gone back to normal. The Congolese were defeated by South Korea 2-1, while Saint Kitts' stunt in Peru would see them be dominated in every department. However, Peru chose to align a B-tier team, and as such Saint-Kitts only lost their game 2-0, although this still sent them down to the bottom of the group.
Saint Kitts entered the month of October with relatively high spirits. Indeed, the team had already secured a point, much more than they expected, and they'd now have to face South Korea twice in a two-week interval. Warner Park was fully booked for the home game, the first one to take place between the two teams. Confident of an easy victory, South Korean didn't bother recalling korean players in european championships such as Son Heung-Min, and played with a relatively young squad from the K-League. Earlier in the day, Peru beat Congo 3-1, which put some pressure on the tigers to perform here in order to stay in the race for first place. Instead, everything crumbled to dust for the Koreans. Indeed, despite a good first half, Saint Kitts held strong, and even managed to counter-attack, leading to a corner-kick five minutes before half-time. This corner was taken by Sawyers, who put it straight towards Mitchum, who headed it in to make it 1-0.
Elation overcame Warner Park, but it wasn't over. After the start of the second half, Saint Kitts actually took things into their own hands, with Hanley seeing his shot parried and Wharton hitting the post. South Korea eventually managed to bring back posession, but were unable to score. Worse, ten minutes before the end, Williams sent a long ball towards substitute Isles, who missed...but the ball went right back towards Harris who sent it to the back of the net. Celebrations erupted across the island as Saint Kitts defeated the invincible koreans. Little did they know, this was only the beginning...
Since the group was locked for the two weeks, South Korea had to play without their star players for the return leg. However, said return leg was located at home in Jeju, and it was obvious that Saint Kitts' first performance was only a fluke. Indeed, after only 8 minutes of play, Chung-young scored for Korea, with everyone thinking this would be it, an absolute massacre of Saint Kitts to come. However, South Korea seemed to be content with their lead. This would come to bite them. A lucky ball from defender Sargeant found Wharton, who cleared two korean defenders to score the equalizer, in front of a shocked korean crowd. The tigers tried pushing in the second half, to no avail. With everyone thinking it would finish on a tie, no one cared about the last offensive Saint Kitts would mount. This was a mistake, as winger Sawyers sent a perfect ball to Sterling, who scored in added time, sealing a second win for Saint Kitts. As Saint Kitts celebrated again, newspapers around the world heralded it as the greatest upset of all time. Indeed, with Peru defeating the Congo 3-0, now Saint Kitts were not battling for scraps, they were battling for qualification, as the rankings read:
1 Peru 10
2 Saint-Kitts 7
3 South Korea 4
4 Congo 1
But the euphoria would die down as things went on, as Saint-Kitts would be unable to score any more points after that. Their confrontation against the Congo would see the Congolese take the day relatively easily. With South Korea defeating Peru 3-2, things became complicated if not impossible for the antilles squad.
Indeed, even with the home advantage, Peru needed the first seed, and completely crushed Saint Kitts with their main squad, leaving no room for error. With South Korea's win over the Congo (2-0), Saint Kitts secured third place in the group. However, the luck wouldn't continue for the small island nation, who flopped at the Caribbean Cup then at the World Cup qualifiers, leading them to not be able to secure a qualification for future World Leagues.
The Saint Kitts squad right before the game against Congoat Warner Park
Saint Kitts players celebrate a goal against South Korea
