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Here's how he described it.

Hon. Herman Longsworth - Minister of State/Sports
"I think we did as well as could have been expected; I believe that we still have a long way to go in football in Belize, but we've made the first step and I was very happy with the outcome of the game and I expect to see a better game on Saturday, I really expect to see a better game on Saturday."

Daniel Ortiz
"As well I am very sure that as a Belizean you felt a little bit down when you saw them loading us up like that!"

Hon. Herman Longsworth
"You bet I was, because you got emotional and you got into the game but when you sat down after the game and you thought about it, you couldn't have expected anything better, really. I believe that the team felt very strongly that they were representing Belize as Belize was behind them. I certainly told them, you know, on certain terms that whatever the outcome was for that game - that we were extremely excited that they had already gotten to that stage and that, that alone for us was a win. I believe the guys are upbeat, they lost the game; I saw them after the game last night and they are already looking towards the next game; I am looking forward to an excellent game on Saturday from Belize."

Daniel Ortiz
"Many people thought that Belize would not even get one goal, how was it for you when you saw them when you saw Ian Gaynair slipped pass them and make that head on?"

Hon. Herman Longsworth
"I almost jumped out of the box I was in; we were so excited; everybody was so excited because we had scored a goal. I mean that is what it's about; that is what watching a game is about and so everybody was excited. We were hoping for more, but life is what it is, all I felt was love and the guys just wanted to have that comrade with everybody, whichever Belizean was there. I was there as a Belizean, I was privileged to have gotten some of the privileges as Minister but I was there as a Belizean and I was rooting for them as every other Belizean and I think they recognized that."

And one fear in some quarters is that the Ministry of Sports has changed its policy. They've decided that their budget must got primarily to developing the baseline of sports in Belize, instead of focusing on those top athletes who need funding to participate in international tournaments.

This has been interpreted as the Ministry saying that those fairly well-organized sporting disciplines will get very little attention.

We asked Minister Longsworth about that interpretation, and he said that it not completely accurate:

Hon. Herman Longsworth
"Football won't be neglected; we have no intention of neglecting any discipline. What I have said is that our responsibility is to ensure that we build the base so that the FFB can continue to have athletes that can go out and represent Belize. We don't want to have one category of athletes and we don't develop the others and then we have a five year drought that we can't play at the level that they're playing. Even the FFB must become cognizant of that - they can't spend all their resources on the national team and not have enough to develop their youth as they come up. So the government will continue to do what it needs to do and what it can do."