10 March 1996

The qualifying rounds kick off

With 27 months to go before the opening match of the 1998 World Cup in France, the preliminary competition, a qualifying stage due to end in November 1997, is under way. The first match ended in a 3-3 draw between two Caribbean Zone countries: the Dominican Republic and the visitors from Antigua and Barbuda. The 4,000 spectators at Windsor Park, Roseau, the capital of the Dominican Republic, watched a Dominican striker named ... Dominique go down in history as scorer of the first goal in the XVIth World Cup.