Vincy Heat squad battle flight problems en route to Guatemala

The woes of St Vincent and the Grenadines’ football team Vincy Heat on the field of play during the semi-final stage of the CONCACAF Zone of the World Cup Qualifiers have been extended to the skies.

Bruised and beaten 6-0 by the USA last Friday here at the Arnos Vale Playing Field, the team has found the going even tougher in getting to Guatemala for their final Group C match, set for tonight at the Estadio Mateo Flores in Guatemala City.{{more}}

The first batch of players left St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) on Saturday night for Trinidad and Tobago, planning to overnight there, then head out to Guatemala at 6:10 a.m.

However, about 20 minutes into the flight on Saturday night, the aircraft returned to the ET Joshua Airport, as, according to Liat officials, the flight was cancelled.

This meant that both batches of players had to leave Sunday, with one batch leaving on Sunday morning and the other Sunday afternoon.

One contingent of players arrived in Guatemala via Copa Airlines on Sunday at 11 p.m., while the other 10 were set to arrive at the same time last night (Monday), using the same airline.

Calls to the fixed line of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation’s (SVGFF) office went unanswered on Monday afternoon.

Additionally, efforts to contact president of the SVGFF Venold Coombs to get his organization’s side of the melée proved also futile, although at the initial connection to his mobile phone, he said he was “in the road” and could not respond.

SEARCHLIGHT, however, has learnt that the original plan was to have the team leave in two batches on Saturday morning and Saturday night, which would have given them time to acclimatize to the high altitude conditions.

Now with little time to settle, concerns have been raised in some quarters here about the output of the players, given the uncertainty of their travel and a reduced squad.

Moreover, the team leaves Guatemala Wednesday morning at 7.

Reports are that a squad of 27, comprising players and officials, was originally set to journey to Guatemala; however, this was subsequently trimmed to 20.

The squad which should have assembled in Guatemala should include 15 players and 5 officials.

The team is Lemus Christopher, Jahvan Peters, Ezra Alleyne, Theon Gordon, Ajure Durham, Daniel Patrick, Tevin Slater, Myron Samuel, Gavin James, Nazir Mc Burnette, Shawn Benjamin, Cornelius Stewart, Kevin Francis, Oalex Anderson and Roy Richards.

The officials are Othniel Douglas – manager, Cornelius Huggins and Wayde Jackson – coaches, Denis Byam – physiotherapist and Nelson Hillocks – chair of the Local Organizing Committee.

Omitted from the list of players named for the USA match were Teron Miller, Emerald George and Danroy Edwards.

Also not making the trip to the Central American country were technical director – Keith Ollivierre, goalkeeper coach – Kevin Richardson and assistant coach – Wesley Charles.

SVG has lost all matches in this the group phase, beaten by the USA 6-1 and 6-0, by Trinidad and Tobago 3-2 and 6-0 and suffered a 4-0 tumbling by Guatemala. (RT)