By Canadian Press

Canada’s World Cup qualifying game postponed due to missing Caymans COVID tests

Mar 28, 2021 | 1:39 PM

BRADENTON, Fla. — Canada’s World Cup qualifying match against the Cayman Islands, scheduled for Sunday, has been pushed back to Monday because of an issue with COVID-19 testing among the Cayman camp.

The two sides were scheduled to kick off at 4 p.m. ET at the IMG Academy

Before each match, teams are required to provide FIFA with negative COVID-19 test results for all players and staff taken no earlier than 72 hours prior to accessing the venue.  

The Caymans were not able to provide those tests so FIFA, with the support of Canada Soccer, elected to postpone the game until Monday at 6 p.m., pending COVID protocols being met.

Canada Soccer said its players and staff had received negative testing prior to arriving and while in camp in Florida.

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The Canadian men are ranked 73rd in the world, 120 places above the Caymans part-timers.

Canada opened its qualifying campaign with a 5-1 win over No. 169 Bermuda in Orlando on Thursday. The Caymans lost 3-0 Wednesday at No. 141 Suriname, which improved to 2-0-0 with a 6-0 thumping of No. 200 Aruba on Saturday in Bradenton.

Thirty CONCACAF countries have been split into six groups in the first round of qualifying in the region that covers North and Central America and the Caribbean. Only the six group winners will advance.

Sunday’s game was officially a home game for the Caymans. But the three-island group with a population of some 63,000, has the same 14-day quarantine as Canada so opted to shift the site to the IMG Academy in Bradenton. The Canadian men held a camp there in January.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2021.

The Canadian Press