SAINT LUCIA knows they must up their game when they kick off their CONCACAF Nations League Championship campaign against Antigua and Barbuda tomorrow evening from 6.00 p.m. at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground if they are to confirm their status as CONCACAF 2018-2019 favourites.
Before his departure ahead of the Antigua and Barbuda showdown, Head Coach of the Saint Lucia Football team, Francis McDonald on Tuesday said, “We have had a very challenging campaign in terms of our preparation, we had some setbacks, we have addressed that and the players presently are in high spirits”.
McDonald believes Saint Lucia’s best chance is to win the Antiguans at home.
He said, “The players have high confidence as to the approach; dealing with Antigua, we have a well-organized team this time around, it’s well balance in all areas, with experiences and a lot of technical players that will carry the work forward into our campaign”.
We know we have a history against Antigua from the last two years and they are preparing for that same encounter with Saint Lucia. We have a plan base in terms of its history and knowing that Antigua is well groomed like us with their overseas players,
Team component. There are seven overseas based pla;yers namely- Zacherinus Simon, Pernel Williams, OtevLawerence, MelaniusMarllaky, Kirt Frederick, Malik St.Prix and Melvin Doxilly. McDonald said, “We had our last training session on Monday evening and it was quite good as to our preparation, I can say yes going forward, should put on a good show”.
In terms of team building/bonding, He said, “One of the things that has hurt and haunted us over the years is the time span as to when an overseas player joins the team; it kind of cripples the team in terms of its progress especially understanding the characters of players on the field and how to use them effectively. Time that has always been against us, and we can never be excused for the time given to us. We could only better our programmes in the future to see how we can mend those areas so the players can join easily into the team.
According to Mc Donald, the players know each other; they have been playing for a while now, so it’s not a big task to gel in quickly.
“The agenda in terms of our objectives is important and as long as the players can see the objectives as to what we want to do and how we are planning our strategies against Antigua and Barbuda and they understand it very well I think they can fit in, it’s nothing new we know what we are working with”. Noted Mc Donald.
The full squad – Goal Keepers – Leon Alexander, Giovanni Deterville; Defenders – Melvin Doxilly, Kurt Frederick, Alvinus Myers, Otev Lawrence, MelaniusMarllaky; Midfielders – Zaine Pierre, Pernal Williams, Gregson President, Zacherinus Simon, Shane Paul ,Lester Joseph; Strikers – Malik St. Prix, Andrus Remy and Jervik Mc Farlane.
While in Antigua and Barbuda, the 16 man squad will be under the watchful eyes of Head Coach – Francis McDonald, Assistant Coach Shawn Kirton, Goal Keeper Coach -Jeff Emmanuel and managed by Denver Edmunds.
