Retrofitted Vincy Heat take dip in Caribbean Cup

A reshuffled coaching staff, five debutants and two recalled players make up the St Vincent and the Grenadines senior men’s football team, Vincy Heat, which will take on Suriname this Saturday at the Andre Kamperveen Stadium in Paramaibo, Suriname, in the second round of the Caribbean Football Union Cup.{{more}}

The team which travelled to Suriname last Wednesday shows five new faces in Mark Browne, Sheaqueam Millington, Cosmus Hackshaw, Valdo Anderson and Nyron Delepesche, while Theon Gordon and Theron Miller have been recalled.

USA based Myron Samuel, along with the England based pair of Shawn Benjamin and David Pitt have also been named in the 19-member squad.

The rest of the squad includes Azinho Solomon, Nazir McBurnette, Roy Richards, Danroy Edwards, Nazron Hoyte, Akeem Williams, Kevin Francis, Lemus Christopher and Kevan Henry.

According to a release from the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation, the technical staff is headed by technical director and coach Keith Ollivierre, with Wayde Jackson as assistant coach.

As part of the retrofitting of the team, Cornelius Huggins is now assistant coach #2, moving from head coach and Wesley Charles, who was Huggins’ assistant, is assistant coach #3.

Retaining their places are fitness coach/trainer Andre Browne, goalkeeper-coach Kevin Richardson and manager Othnell Douglas.

Whilst the names of the players and officials have been released by the SVGFF, it was noticeable last Wednesday morning at the ET Joshua Airport that there were other persons who were making the trip, unknown to some members of the management unit.

One fuming member of the management team said: “These are things I can’t take, denying players in preference for friends… It is the same thing that happened when we went to Trinidad.”

Reports are that when Vincy Heat travelled to the twin-island republic to face that country in the return leg of the World Cup qualifiers on March 29, several persons close to the hierarchy of the SVGFF executive had checked into the same hotel with the team.

Also, some members of the public, who were present at the airport last Wednesday for the team’s departure, expressed dismay at the deportment of some of the players.

“This can’t be a national team representing St Vincent… Look at the way some are dressed,” the woman lamented.

Whilst all players were dressed in a Vincy Heat team jersey, there was no uniformity in pants, as there were different varieties, including one member in track pants, which was folded knee high.

However, head coach Ollivierre is upbeat that his charges will deliver.

“Our approach will be an up-tempo one, an attacking style, whilst guarding ourselves from the counter-attack…. The team [that] we have, is a team for the future, not just for the Caribbean Cup, but for the remaining matches in the World Cup and beyond,” Ollivierre told SEARCHLIGHT last Wednesday.

Drawn in Group Five, St Vincent and the Grenadines received a bye to this phase.

St Kitts and Nevis is the other in the group, and they were scheduled to meet Suriname last Wednesday night in Basseterre.

St Vincent and the Grenadines entertain St Kitts and Nevis on Tuesday here at the Arnos Vale Playing Field from 3:30 p.m.

The five group winners and the four best runners-up will advance to the third round, when defending champions Jamaica, along with Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago enter the fray.(RT)