Vincy Heat stay cold on FIFA dates

St Vincent and the Grenadines’ senior men’s football outfit — branded ‘Vincy Heat,’ will remain idle during the FIFA window (October 8 to 14), set aside for competitions and international friendly engagements.{{more}}

Others across the globe are making full use of the opportunity to gauge their teams’ readiness mainly for upcoming World Cup qualification fixtures.

However, according to president of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation Venold Coombs, plans are being made to have engagements possibly against Grenada and St Kitts and Nevis, in the not too distant future.

Coombs noted that part of the reason for not vigorously pursuing international friendlies during the FIFA dates was that several of the players were out on semi-professional contracts in Antigua & Barbuda and Guyana.

Coombs claimed that additionally, the cost of bringing back the players, along with two others in Europe, was also prohibitive.

The local football boss also stated that current head coach Cornelius Huggins was equally reluctant to do without the services of most of the first team players in international matches, fearing adverse results will dent the team’s rankings on the FIFA table.

At a recent press conference, it was reported that arrangements would be made to have St Vincent and the Grenadines play warm-up matches on US soil prior to the November 13 World Cup first leg qualifier.

But while St Vincent and the Grenadines prefers to look through the October 8 to 14 FIFA window, all of the other CONCACAF teams in this phase of the World Cup qualifiers will be busy against fellow opponents.

Football’s world governing body FIFA instituted the dates to help solve the issue of club versus country, so that member countries can plan on these periods to avoid the wanton fixturing of international friendlies.

St Vincent and the Grenadines is drawn in Group C of the semi-final round of CONCACAF, along with the USA, Guatemala and Trinidad and Tobago.

During the October 8 to 14 period, the USA will host Mexico on October 10 in the Confederation play-off and Costa Rica two days later in a friendly international.

Mexico also host Panama, November 14, while Honduras do the same to Guatemala, October 8 and on October 9, El Salvador entertain Haiti.

Honduras will be at it again, when they host South Africa.

Similarly, Trinidad and Tobago will be away to Panama, October 8 and host Nicaragua October 13 in Port of Spain.

This is seen as a dry run for the Trinidadians whose World Cup schedule next month sees them facing Guatemala, November 13 and host USA, four days later.

Other CONCACAF teams Canada and Jamaica are not missing out on the FIFA window either, as they are set to meet Ghana and South Korea, respectively.

The fourth round itinerary for Vincy Heat begins with a meeting against the USA in St Louis, Missouri, November 13 and Guatemala on November 17, here at the Arnos Vale Playing Field.

St Vincent and the Grenadines’ campaign resumes March 25, 2016, with a meeting here with Trinidad and Tobago and the reverse fixture on March 29, 2016 in Port of Spain.

The final round of the group takes place September 2, 2016 when St Vincent and the Grenadines will host the USA, to be followed by their away to Guatemala on September 6.(RT)