Vincy Heat in familiar territory

St Vincent and the Grenadines’ senior men’s Football Team, Vincy Heat, will go into their Concacaf World Cup sojourn next week June 5, 2024, in the first of the Group F fixtures versus Suriname in Suriname.

Four days later also in Suriname, they will play their ‘home’ match versus El Salvador, having to give up the right to host because of the unavailability of the premier sporting venue, the Arnos Vale Playing Field which will be in use for the ICC Men’s T/20 World Cup.

The latter even places the Vincentians at a further disadvantage going into the two upcoming fixtures, granted the pedigree of their opponents.

Additionally, the local squad is filled with locally based players who have not been involved in any sustained football competition for some time, as there was no 2023-2024 National Club Championships that would have provided match awareness and match readiness.

Moreover, the championships provide that regular competition for players, which can only aid the national selection and the technical staff’s better assessment of the tactical, physical, and mental capacities of the players.

That situation has been exacerbated by the number of professional footballers who are plying their trade elsewhere being in the minority; therefore, the technical staff has no other choice but to harvest the few who are available, whilst endeavouring to hone the skills of the home- based players.

Hence, the preparations for the Vincentian team was restricted to in- house matches among the various zones across the country as the main parameter for final selections.

But, Vincy Heat’s technical staff aided and was indeed grateful to get three friendlies, albeit they were against familiar foes in Dominica and Grenada.

Thankful though for small mercies, those matches whilst accruing some relevance, were inadequate granted the skill level and status of Suriname and El Salvador, who are the Vincentians’ immediate targets.

But as St Vincent and the Grenadines takes another crack at enhancing its fortunes, they are also faced with some inherent deficiencies.

Notably, FIFA’s latest rankings show St Vincent and the Grenadines only ahead of Anguilla. Thus, St Vincent and the Grenadines is at 173, El Salvador -81; Suriname- 144; Puerto Rico- 160, with Anguilla at 209.

In essence, St Vincent and the Grenadines will begin their outing next week, as underdogs to their respective rivals.

This position has been the norm since St Vincent and the Grenadines began contesting the World Cup Qualifiers.

As such, we have failed to advance out of the group stages, granted over time, different formats have been used.

History will show that St Vincent and the Grenadines’ best showing came in 2004, when the country recorded two wins against St Kitts and Nevis and was able to hold Concacaf powerhouse Mexico to a 1-0 defeat, here in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

These went with dignified losses to Trinidad and Tobago, who went on to qualify for the 2006 World Cup finals.

Most recently though St Vincent and the Grenadines’ last stint in World Cup Qualifiers, ended with a solitary 3-0 win over the British Virgin Islands(BVI).

The Vincentians were beaten 5-0 by Curacao;,whipped by Guatemala 10-0, and suffered a 1-0 defeat to Cuba.

So, as the Vincentians go on the road from June 5, the local public must not be carried away by the two positive results gained versus Dominica and Grenada, as the Surinamese and Salvadorians are a different kettle of fish.

This does not rule out a win or favourable draw, but the odds are stacked against the country’s pride and joy- Vincy Heat.

That is just the reality that is before us as we lack the facilities, club structure, corporate support for the sport, as well as our players in the main, still operate in an amateur setting.

Therefore, one should not be harsh on the Director of Technical Matters , who is also the team’s Interim head coach, Theon Gordon, as he has to make do with the tools that are at his disposal.

In short, he is proverbially being asked to turn water into wine.

It is no gainsaying that coaching at the national senior level is a hard job, given the expectations, and with St Vincent and the Grenadines it is ten-fold harder, as our football has not progressed incrementally over the years.