Standing on the promises

St Vincent and the Grenadines within the past six weeks, participated in four age – group Football competitions starting with the male Under-19 team dubbed “ Vincy Ballers”, who contested and won the inaugural Free Kick Youth Cup in St Lucia, from late July, early August.

As such the Vincentians topped representative teams from Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, and host St Lucia.

Vincy Ballers essentially formed the best set of footballers in that age group, as well as those with the matriculation to go on to US colleges and universities.

Then, the National Male Under-14 team competed at the Caribbean Football Union’s Challenge Series, held in the Dominican Republic. The Vincentian lads gave a good account of themselves by recording wins versus French Guiana, Dominica and Bermuda, but lost to Barbados.

Thus, St Vincent and the Grenadines narrowly missed out from a semi- final place in Tier II of the competition.

Running concurrently with the Under-14 males, St Vincent and the Grenadines Under-15 females took the Jewels of the Caribbean title in Antigua and Barbuda.

The lasses had wins against Dominica and Grenada, drew with host Antigua and Barbuda and lost to St Lucia.

The Vincentians were crowned inaugural champions, edging out Grenada by a superior goal difference.

And, last Saturday, August 27 St Vincent and the Grenadines had to settle for the runner- up spot in the Pride of the Caribbean Under-17 male tournament, held in Antigua and Barbuda.

The tale of the Vincentians’ sojourn shows them registering wins against Antigua and Barbuda and Grenada, as well as losses to St Lucia in the preliminary round, and the final on penalties.

When lumped, it was more than satisfactory showing by the Vincentian outfits.

But, we need not get ahead of ourselves by the same victories, the sub- regional limelight and the few plaudits and think that our Football at the age group levels has arrived.

Far from that, as the sample size of our opponents, in the case of Under-15s and Under-17s, was limited namely to those territories that are regular foes.

The Under-14 boys and the Under-19s though were wider and gave a better gauge of our standards, comparatively. However, it must be noted that the Under-19s played on smaller size field than the regular international dimensions.

Instructively, the performance of the four teams provided timely analysis of the wok of Theon Gordon, who, since August 1, 2021, served as the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation’s Director of Technical Matters.

With the absence of national competitions, Gordon instituted a zonal format, where players trained in their respective zones, then were engaged in inter-zonal matches.

That format sought to vet players, screen, and finally select players to fill the various national teams.

Additionally, several coaches were assigned to the zones who aided in the selection of the final teams.

From the evidence of the recent results overseas, that system would have worked in the circumstances.

But this will not be the course taken for national selection going forward, therefore, it will be back to square one as the players will be back to their clubs where they are expected to have value added to their skill set.

Are the players who made the trips to Antigua and Barbuda, St Lucia, and the Dominican Republic,to be monitored, or would they be left to progress how they can?

Surely, what obtained recently at the various competitions should provide analytics as to the prospects of the next generations of Vincy footballers, both male and female.

Acting proficiently and decisively, data generated must be fed to the clubs in order for the nexus, from talent to success be made and assured.

This may require greater empowerment of clubs financially, as taking our young prospects to a higher level of performance would necessitate injection of human resources and reciprocal remuneration.

It is all well and good for many Vincentians to laud the efforts of the four national representative teams, but kudos must be given to the clubs who with little or nothing, kept the players to some acceptable level of fitness and competence.

Reiterating, the sustained upward trajectory that our Football exhibited during the past four to five weeks, must be followed by the prerequisite support system that are either re-installed or scaffolded. If not, the efforts of the youngsters and other will amount to nothing , and will be a repeat of teams of the past.

Building and standing on the glimpses and pockets of promise shown recently from the age group, must be strategically pursued and not allow the sport to simply evolve.