Vincy Heat off to battle USA in Missouri

St Vincent and the Grenadines senior football team Vincy Heat will meet the USA this Friday from 7:30 p.m. (St Vincent and the Grenadines time) at Busch Stadium in St Louis, Missouri, in the fourth round of the CONCACAF Zone of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.{{more}}

Speaking ahead of the team’s departure last Sunday, head coach Cornelius Huggins told SEARCHLIGHT: “The USA is a top team and we have to go there with a game plan… The players have to know their roles and responsibilities.”

Huggins said that apart from the acclimatization process, Vincy Heat will be using the few days leading up to Friday’s match to work on some of the team’s deficiencies, as well as look at some other players.

Friday’s weather forecast for Missouri has put temperatures lower than what most Vincentians are used to.

However, Huggins said the warm-up match last Wednesday here at the Victoria Park, against Antigua and Barbuda, proved useful to his technical staff as to the current state of play of the team.

In his assessment, Huggins noted: “We need to be more clinical in front of the goal, playing against the United States and those top teams, when you get one opportunity you have to take it and make it count.”

Huggins agreed that the team has become fitter over the past three weeks. However, he noted of his charges, “They have to be more compact as a team.”

Twenty players and nine officials left for the USA on Sunday.

The players on the trip are goalkeepers – Winslow Mc Dowall, Kenyon Lynch and Lemus Christopher; defenders – Roy Richards, Reginald Richardson, Danroy Edwards, Akeem Williams, Kevin Francis, and Glenroy Ashton.

The midfield personnel are Dorren Hamlett, (Captain) Nazir Mc Barnett, Juma Gilkes, Terron Miller, Vasbert Ledger, Kyle Edwards and Romano Snagg, with Tevin Slater, Oalex Anderson, Azhino Solomon and Shandel Samuel – the strikers.

English based Gavin James, as well as three US based Vincentians, will join the touring party, with the latter trio on trial.

The officials include head coach Cornelius Huggins, assistant coaches – Ezra Hendrickson, Wesley Charles and Wade Jackson, goalkeeper coach Kevin Richardson, trainer Andre Browne and kit manager Lenford Foster.

Othneil Douglas is the team’s manager, with acting first vice-president of the SVGFF Dominique Stowe also part of the management unit.

Following this Friday’s match, Vincy Heat returns next Tuesday, November 17, to host Guatemala here at the Arnos Vale Playing Field.

Also on Friday, Guatemala hosts Trinidad and Tobago, with the USA away to Trinidad and Tobago also November 17.(RT)