Junior Firpo setback in new international first with reliance on Leeds United man clear

A new international first for left back Junior Firpo ended with a setback as reliance on the Leeds United man became clear.

Firpo grew up in Spain and played for the country’s under-21s as a youngster but recently made an international ‘switch’ to represent the Dominican Republic, the country in which he was born.

The Whites left back made his senior international debut for the Dominican Republic in March with outings in friendlies against Aruba and Peru.

Two months on, the 27-year-old is now taking in his first competitive games for the Dominican Republic having been named in the squad for June’s two World Cup qualifiers in June.

His team faced an away clash against Jamaica in the early hours of Friday morning and Firpo was named in the starting XI in his team’s bid to get their qualification campaign off the perfect start.

His team’s reliance on him was clear as he played the full duration of the contest but the game ended in disappointment for his side who fell to a 1-0 defeat.

Spartak Moscow’s Shamar Nicholson bagged the only goal of the game for Jamaica in the 15th minute as the Reggae Boyz got of to winning start.

The Dominican Republic will return to action in the early hours of next Wednesday morning with another World Cup qualifier at home to the British Virgin Islands (1am kick-off). Dominica and Guatemala form the rest of the qualifying group.