With the recent Free Kick Foundation / St. Lucia Football Association Inc. [SLFA] Easter Under-19 District Tournament completed -the SLFA has released a Representative XI squad of players.
The players were selected on the merit of their performances in the two-day event that was held at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground [DSCG], involving the participation of 12 inter-district teams.
An SLFA official stated that “following the conclusion of the Free Kick Foundation/ SLFA U19 Easter Invitational, the organisers selected their Team of the Tournament based on a 4-4-1-1 formation.”
Outstanding players from the Championship team Vieux Fort make up a large portion of the selected squad; while players were also recognised from the finalists Mabouya Valley, Dennery, and Anse La Raye teams.
The Free Kick Squad is as follows:
Goal Keeper – Tariq Leo – Vieux Fort South
Defenders –
Left Back – Zacky Harper – Mabouya Valley
Central Back – Kennan Mc. Lawrence – Vieux Fort South
Central Back – Merciah Wells – Mabouya Valley
Right Back – Hosea Mathurin – Vieux Fort South
Midfielders –
Left Midfield – Sharquille William – Dennery
Central Midfield – Brandon Sandiford – Mabouya Valley
Central Midfield – Shaun Joseph – Vieux Fort South
Right Midfield – Riquelme Elva – Vieux Fort South
Play Maker – Dahmani Berthier – Anse la Raye
Striker – Klivert Grey – Vieux Fort South
Coach of the V-Fort South team, Alwyn Harris was delighted that the southern side came through triumphantly, to secure their spot as Saint Lucia’s representative team for this upcoming mid-summer Free Kick Youth Cup.
“I am happy for the Vieux Fort team, those set of boys and the community as a whole …since Vieux Fort has been plagued with crime lately, but with those boys, we have been able to turn it around,” Harris told Voice Sports.
He noted that Vieux Fort “has been dominating local football for the past six (6) years and we told them that we need to continue that…and if it is within the next 10 years or so, we want to keep Vieux Fort at its prime in local football.”
Harris said that heading into the Free Kick Youth Cup, the technical staff will work on strengthening some positions on the team. He singled out central defender Kennan Mc. Lawrence, who scored a long drive scorcher for the winning goal in the finals as the team’s Most Valuable Player (MVP).
Commenting on his team’s performance and the joy that they shared with the victory, Mc Lawrence declared: “Hard work and determination is what it took for us to make this happen.”
The wily defender and one of the two (2) team captains said “it’s our goal” to go out and represent the country and “we will be training very hard to bring out some good results.”
Though a bit disappointed with the outcome, the M Valley coach Julian Ishmar was nonetheless satisfied with the experience that his team garnered from participating in the competition.
“It was a really enjoyable and meaningful experience that we took a young group of players that included three (3) national youth players on our team …and the guys did extremely well as we were able to meet a lot of expectations.”
Meanwhile, the SLFA train rolls out this weekend to the eastern and southern zones where two (2) respective national football finals will be held.
Today (Saturday), the SLFA Senior Women’s Championships finals will feature the National U-14 Girls coming up against Vieux Fort South at the Dennery Playing Field (DPF), from 5.00 p.m.
On Sunday, Dennery takes on Canaries in the finals of the SLFA Island Premier Cup at the Phillip Marcelin Grounds (PMG), at 7.00p.m; to be preceded by the Third Place Play-Off, at 5.00 p.m., between Vieux Fort South and Gros Islet.
In the Premier League, the tournament’s leading goal scorer is Donavan Jn. Baptiste from Canaries with 10, followed by Aramis Gilbert of Gros Islet and Ectus Gilbert, of Desruisseaux with 8 each, and Noah Nicholas of Vieux Fort South with 7. Three players have scored 6 goals each namely, Tev Lawrence Gros Islet, Janai Lesmond Marchand, and Jarvel Faucher of Dennery.