Three teams retain perfect records in Tier 1 of the 2025 Saint Lucia Semi-Professional Football League, after two weeks of action at the Mindoo Phillip Park.
Defending champions La Clery and Central Castries have each kept clean sheets in their two wins. Mabouya Valley, meanwhile, overcame a stubborn challenge from Dennery to stay top of the table on goal difference. Gros Islet were held to a draw.
The title holders got goals from Shaquille Degazon and Yanic Noel within a three-minute span in the first half of their Sunday night matchup against Choiseul. Roeham Cooper netted in the 80th minute to give La Clery their second win in as many weeks.
Mabouya Valley came from behind to take the East Coast derby. National midfielder Brandon Sandiford struck thrice. He opened the scoring in the 23rd minute of a contentious match. Shaquelle William equalised for Dennery on the stroke of halftime. Four yellow cards were shown in the first period.
Shervius Oculi gave Dennery the lead shortly after a double substitution from the Valley. But the advantage lasted only seven minutes before Sandiford popped up again to restore parity. He snatched all three points with a goal seven minutes from time.
Central Castries got past newly-promoted Vieux Fort South by a 2-0 margin. This was the second week in a row that Central has enjoyed that scoreline, after beating a stubborn Soufrière squad last week. Jamal Wilfred and Marcalan John scored in the first 25 minutes to take care of the Tier 2 champions.
Gros Islet scored first against Canaries; Jardel Joseph made his mark in the 34th minute. Curdin Jones equalised in the 67th minute, and Mc Arthur Louis gave Canaries the lead in the 71st. After Canaries were reduced to 10 men thanks to an 88th-minute red card, Sherman Augustin scored in injury time to share the points. It was the second draw this season for Canaries. Gros Islet are fourth in the standings with a win and a draw.
Soufrière got past South Castries 2-1 for their first win of the campaign. Dennery and Vieux Fort South drew in the first week of the season. South Castries and Choiseul are yet to taste victory.
The SPFL goes on a near three-week hiatus for Saint Lucia Carnival. The big matchup when the competition resumes on July 26th at the Gros Islet Playing Field will be a mouthwatering clash of unbeaten teams Central Castries and Mabouya Valley.
While it is good to see the boys in action in the main league. What about the national team? I heard they got beaten by Curacao by 4 goals to nil. Curacao is not even a proper independent country yet they were able to beat St Lucia. What is happening to our national team? Who is in charge of the team really? Surely if you have a league you should be able to field in a national team that can beat Curacao.
Look at gang-torn Haiti, they qualified easily for the next round. All four Caribbean teams who played in previous World Cups qualified. Why not St Lucia? What is wrong with our boys? We need proper stadiums in the country so that this league can progress and the players should be paid for their services. You need to sign deals with clubs in England and the rest of Europe and the monies raised should be plough back into the local league to boost it financially. Back in the day I remember players like Angus Sexius, Du Boulay, Low She, Bock, John Browne, Abra, Fairest, Clouds Poyotte,I-Maker, Barlow, Skip,Pantos, Jah Yout, Stone, Junior Watson, Bage the list goes on. Where are these players now? Why are they not hired as coaches to lead the teams in the league?
Terry Finistierre, what say you about our national team? Why isn’t much being written about them? I applaud you for your lucid sports writing but we need you to focus on the National team. St Lucia needs to start playing home games on home soil. All sovereign states should be playing their home games on home soil. More emphasis needs to placed on the national team and in qualifying for a world cup at least. Darren Sammy won two World Cups and the least St Lucia can do is to qualify for a World Cup, football that is. This upcoming World Cup should be the ideal time to qualify since the hosts USA, Canada and Mexico have already qualify from our CONCACAF group. Questions needs to be asked as to why they did not make it to the second round. Wake up St Lucia and make us proud by qualifying for the next World cup. It can be done. What is wrong with you?