Vincy Heat to play Jamaica in Gold Cup prelims

After finishing runners- up to El Salvador in Group A of the Concacaf Nations League (CNL) Tier B, and as one of two best second places, St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Senior Men’s Football team, Vincy Heat will meet Jamaica in the Gold Cup preliminaries.

St Vincent and the Grenadines ended their Group A sojourn on 13 points, two fewer than El Salvador, when their group stage concluded last Sunday, November 17, 2024 at the Estadio Cuscatlán in El Salvador.

The Vincentians crowned off a reasonable campaign, with a 3-1 triumph over Bonaire.

Diel Spring scored in the 19th and 82nd minutes, and Kyle Edwards added his team’s second in the 67th minute.

In between, Bonaire was on the score sheet, when Vincentian defender, Jamol Yorke, put the ball in his own net in the 75th minute, giving the opponents their only goal but Spring sealed the deal with a low header.

It was the second win in El Salvador for Vincy Heat, who three days prior, withstood Montserrat 2-1.

Steven Pierre scored in the 42nd minute, and Cornelius Stewart hit a penalty in the 86th minute.

However, Montserrat got a consolation via Donervorn Daniels who scored in the 88th minute.

Vincy Heat thus ended the group stage with four wins, inclusive of a defeat on El Salvador here at the Arnos Vale Playing Field, on October 13, 2024. Additionally, the Vincentians drew with Bonaire in their first match of the September window, and suffered a loss to El Salvador during the October window.

Looking ahead to the Gold Cup preliminaries, Head Coach of Vincy Heat, Ezra Hendrickson at a welcoming function for the team at the La Vue Hotel on Monday, November 18, lauded his charges, but admitted that there is a lot of work still to be done. Hendrickson, who at the time was not aware of his team’s meeting with Jamaica, stated: “Between now and that time, we have to get better- lot of improvements we have to do, so we can’t just rest on our laurels.

We have to continue to push”.

The former St Vincent and the Grenadines captain is banking on the incremental progress of the players with whom he has been working since taking up the post in August of this year.

“As a coach when you see players are able to go out there and perform and make your job easy, it makes your job exciting. It makes you want to go out there and work harder,” Hendrickson said with a sense of accomplishment and gratitude.

He will be looking to follow in the footsteps in his former SVG Coach, Jamaica -born, Lenny Taylor, who guided the country to its first and only outing at the Gold Cup in 1996.

St Vincent and the Grenadines in 2021, also entered the preliminary phase of the Concacaf Gold Cup, but were unable to topple Haiti in their one-off match in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

In that unfortunate match, the Vincentians were depleted because of the non- issuance of visas to players.

Haiti won the match 6-1.