Belize's national under 21 football team secured a spot in sports history on Sunday night when they crushed El Salvador two-nil at the Carl Ramos Stadium in Dangriga town. The home at home series ended last night when the two teams met again in El Salvador and as you may know by now, our team was shelled by the Salvadorans 3 to nil. That ended the series with a 3 to 2 score in Salvador's favor, ordinarily is a big loss for Belizean football but it might not be that simple. At midnight, last night, our team began their journey back home and when they arrived at the MCC this afternoon Keith Swift was there to find out why the team still has reason to celebrate.

Keith Swift Reporting,
With their heavy hearts on their sleeves, this afternoon a visibly dejected national under 21 football team returned home to the MCC Grounds after a 12 hour bus ride. Team captain Ryan Simpson says they didn't return as losers. He prefers to say they returned from a battle well-fought in two countries. And as for the gloomy looks on their faces, he warns not to mistake that for the after effects of the sting of defeat.

Ryan Simpson, U-21 Team Captain
"Its not sadness because we know we tried our best so its not sadness. We talked about the game and we all felt good, we thought we played good against El Salvador so its not sadness, its more likely tired because we came in late after the game and some of us haven't even seen our homes as yet but Belize is our home so we feel happy to be here. It was a very long bus ride."

Lisbey Castillo, U-21 Team Member
"It was a very interesting because some of the players thought that we would be frightened by the fans and such a large stadium but during the game that didn't make a difference because everybody came out hard and played their hearts out. The referee was causing a great of difficulty within the game, most of the calls for El Salvador; not trying to find excuses but a few Belizeans that were there could tell you that. Other than that the team played their heart out."

And that is what these players say went wrong in Salvador. They blame it on the referees.

Lennox Castillo, U-21 Team Member
"The referee really chanced us but that is how it goes out there so we just take it like how it comes."

Keith Swift,
Do you feel that you disappointed the country?

Lennox Castillo,
"Not really because of the victory we had, we had a chance there but the victory we had here was really important and thing to the country and I think we can appreciate that."

Ryan Simpson,
"I don't see that anything went really wrong with the team. The team was the same like here, we had the same vibe, the same hype, everything was good. Its like I said, the game to us, we don't think, was fair but we didn't stay there and complain: we toughed it up, we got together, we pulled even stronger, we played even harder than we thought we would have to, we throwed everything at Salvador man. We got an early red card too which put us ten man down so the fight got really harder so we just played our hearts out."

And while its too early for a full post mortem, national team coach Ian Mork says he won't make any excuse for the stunning loss.

Ian Mork, Coach - U-21 Team
"We played really well, surprised by the referee's decision to give a red card and two penalties, was very surprising...especially the level of the game I think was a little above his head so we were really disappointed with that but the guys played great and we just couldn't find the one goal that we needed."

Keith Swift,
What changed between Sunday night and Wednesday night?

Ian Mork,
"Well not much other than we went to El Salvador to play in a huge stadium with a lot of pressure, with a lot of fans, a situation a lot of our players haven't been in before, so that's a big difference. The first half, too many of our players weren't in the game, the game was too big for them, and we had to play 90 minutes and we didn't and we had a lot of chances to score in the first half, Marlon Mesa, wasn't in the game then and we had chances to score and we needed to score and we didn't and that's a difference, that's what football is all about: we have to get that goal to score and go through."

Lisbey Castllo,
"We still have our heads up because we didn't make that get to our heads. Our motive was to go to El Salvador and win but unfortunately we didn't but it felt really amazing to make history in our country because the past national teams usually lost but it was such a great feeling to know we did something. I am very sure that we really did gain respect from El Salvador because we gave them a hell of a game."

And that perhaps is the real victory for these under 21 year olds. They didn't win the match but they gave fans that famous sporting refrain: "we owe you one"

The match was held to secure a spot in the Central American games. The Football Federation of Belize (FFB) says there is still an opportunity for Belize to battle with Panama for a spot in the games.