www.bviolympics.com Football TORTOLA—The British Virgin Islands will face the Bahamas at the BFA National Center in Nassau today at 4 p.m. in the first of its two FIFA 2010 World Cup preliminary qualifying matches. The second game is on Sunday, also in Nassau, in the first meeting between the two teams. The BVI was forced to play both games in the Bahamas, after the A. O. Shirley Recreation Grounds failed a December FIFA inspection. With the exception of two draws—0-0 and 1-1—against the U.S. Virgin Islands in Virgin Gorda last weekend, the team enters the competition purely on practice time on an undersized pitch in Greenland. The series winner will face Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz—who spent three weeks touring Brazil—in preparation for their campaign. “Basically, I’m looking for a big win,” coach Patrick Mitchell said. “We are not sure what the Bahamas is going to come with—I understand they have some foreign based players—but, I have confidence in my guys and I know that we will pull it off.” Despite not having more practice games, Mitchell said last week’s encounter with the U.S. Virgin Islands was used to measure the team to see where they stood in different areas of the field—defense, midfield and the striking position. He said a lack of a facility has created numerous problems, but despite the challenges, Mitchell said he thinks his squad can be victorious. Mitchell said what he saw last weekend the time is near when they must rebuild the team and bring in younger players, as some of the players can’t go a full 90 minutes at this time. He said they have some young guys but they are in school and that is creating problems to take them out for a week. “All in all, I think the whole idea is to rebuild the team at this point in time, put together a five year program and see where we go from there,” he said. “But, in terms of the game itself last week, it was a beautiful game technically and tactically what we put in place we saw, but, we need work on finishing. Over the last week we worked on some finishing and I just want to see it work out in the Bahamas.” BVI Players: Desrie Butler, Hanief James, Noel Isaac, Ranalie Cain, Roger Alexander, Richie Morton, Elvis Williams, Maxford Pipe, Andy Davis, Jevon Demming, Raymond Cummings, Raul Ettienne, Venton James, Lyndon Remy, Avandale “Avon” Williams, Fitzroy Daley, Dwayne Ross, Carlos Sutherland, Rohan “Chi Chi” Lennon and Nano Ottley. Head Coach: Patrick Mitchell; Coach: Vincent Samuel; Trainer: Lenroy Henry; Goal keeper coach: Dowlyn Daley; Physiotherapist: Will Smith. © Copyright 2007 BVI Olympic Committee |