BVI heads off to Digicel Cup with new captain & new confidence
It won’t be an easy task for the BVI team, currently 191st in the FIFA rankings and 32nd amongst CONCACAF rivals, but with Gregory James taking over the captain’s armband from the unavailable Andy Davis and some new players, they will be doing their best to lay to rest the ghost of 2010 and put some pride into their performances.
Apart from the hosts Martinique, who actually are affiliated with the French Football Federation and are the current holders of La Coupe de L’Outre-Mer de Football (the French Overseas Cup), the BVI will face Suriname, who are ranked 18th in CONCACAF and Montserrat who sit 34th.
The team leaves on Sunday and play their first game against Martinique on Wednesday 5th September, before facing Suriname on the 7th and Montserrat on the 9th.
As BVI Football Association President, Andy Bickerton commented “we are very excited about this, the coaching team has put a lot of time and preparation into this trip, and we seem to be on track!”
Player/Coach Avondale Williams stated the team had been in training for about 4 months and they were confident having beaten Anguilla 1-0 in a recent friendly and defeating a good Navy side 4-1. “I’m very pleased with the fitness levels and if a couple of players return from injury in time we will be in good shape.”
The full squad is: Vesquever Frett, Gregroy James, Andre Ryan, Jevone Demming, Rushedo Robinson, Javier Smith, Jamal Sargeant, Jerry Jones, Troy Ceasar, Trevor Peters, Vanquever Frett, Jhon Samuel, Joel Fahie, Carlos Septus, Christopher Telemaque, Fladimir Septus, Devon Letteen, James Shearman, Avondale Williams and Errol Wellington. Ricky Davis is the Manager and other officials are Lenroy Henry, Montgomery Butler, Potlee Pope, Sheldon Harry and Aubrey Liburd.
Davis said it was great to have the boys available from Kansas Cloud Community College and that their coach had been impressed with the way they were progressing “our aim is to make the players as comfortable as possible so they can all perform to the best ability. I’m very excited by the squad that has been put together and confident we will at least come back with a clearer understanding of where we are.”
It is important to play as many international matches as we can said Bickerton “we are working with the Caribbean Football Union to organise as many regional competitions in all age groups and for both men and women as we can” he said.” “We can judge our progress against teams from within the Leewards, for example, and be more optimistic when we face the more powerful footballing countries.”
In 2010 the BVI faced the Dominican Republic in their opening match and were soundly routed 17-0 in a game that re wrote the record books. The BVI then concluded their participation in that year’s tournament with a 10-0 defeat to Dominica, which included the fastest ever goal in the tournament as Dominica opened the scoring after only 26 seconds.
This time around the team will play in Williams’ favoured 4-3-3 formation with wing backs employed to strengthen the midfield and get forward into dangerous areas. The goal scoring ability of Trevor Peters and Carlos Septus will be key with support from the likes of Jhon Samuel. James and Shearman will run things in midfield, whilst the defense will be marshaled by Cesar, Robinson, the Fretts and Jones.
Williams has done his homework on the opposition and whilst the squad appears defensive minded, that may not be a bad thing given results from the past.
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18 Responses to “BVI heads off to Digicel Cup with new captain & new confidence”
People stop!!! get the message locals do not count. Remember they are even not allowed to be proud of their roots and heritage and call them self indigenous get the picture boss.
jack*** come to the airport we the team leaves and then talk cause im sure this team is 100% tolian dont matter where there parents from or where they grow up they all have tolia passport and thats what matters most
natives? Please you want to find natives go to the US, not even UK i could suggest you look for them. Thats where they are. Local are basically goin into extinction.
Really i wonder if USA, UK and other big nations were thinking like this when Jamician, Africain born, etc represented them intead of thier birthplace. Ross born JA but naturalize US citizen ran in the olympics couple wks ago, rep the US flag and not JA. Dont hear the US boooin, they cheered from the beginin to the end. Same thing goes for the african guy who ran long distance born africa but naturalize UK citizen. Again, they cheered from the beginin to the end.
Let this team win or get any medals you will see how fast we want to bask in their/non native glory. Pure BS
good luck guys, win, lose or draw. just do yall best!!! Expose the BVI name to regions that never heard of us before.