All systems are go in respect to St Lucia hosting the CFU Caribbean Cup which involves four teams including St Lucia playing against each other at the Beausejour Cricket Ground (BCG) beginning on Sunday.
Earlier in the week The St Lucia Football Association (SLFA) provided an update on preparations for the competition taking place from October 21-25. Officials also and introduced four key sponsors and the catchy theme song for the tournament “St Lucia We Love” courtesy of Mongstar.
At the press conference President of the SLFA, Lyndon Cooper stated the following: The venue inspection has been completed and handed over to the Match Commissioner; a well structured security plan has been put in place; there is the formation of a full fledged medical team; assistance is being provided by over 50 volunteers working on behalf of the association.
Cooper told the media that he is pleased by what has transpired over the last two and a half months in terms of public relations, organization, sponsorship and media coverage.
The SLFA President appealed to all St Lucians to show up on opening day Sunday as part of the 12th man for Team St Lucia.
The tournament is presented by the Government of St Lucia and the SLFA with assistance from several sponsors. Four of them Piton Beer, Carib Cable, H2O and Lucozade were in attendance and introduced at the recent press conference.
St Lucia’s team consists of the following players and officials. Randy Poleon, Everton Lambert, Lawrence St Croix, D Anthony, Danny George, Eden Charles, Kevin Edwards, R Augustin, Iran Garcias, Shane Paul, Jamill Joseph, Cliff Valcin, T Charlemagne, Sheldon Emmanuel, Thaddeus Francis, Pernell Williams, L Ramsay, Kurt Frederick, Elijah Joseph, Ricardo Estwick Junior and Romal Felix.
The Technical staff consists of Head Coach, Francis “Baba” Lastic; Assistant Coach, Anthony Jn Baptiste; Warm Up Coach, Solomon Alexander; Fitness Coach, Dane Magloire; Goalkeeping Coach, Walter Joseph; Physiotherapist, Kim Jackson; and Team Manager, Valdez James.
The national team is a young one and there is cause for concern after playing four games against local opposition. Two games ended in a tie with defeats in the other two matches.
On the opening day of the tournament October 21at 5:00 pm, Guyana go up against St Vincent & the Grenadines while at 7:30 pm St Lucia entertains Curacao.
On October 23 at 6:00 pm, Curacao vs Guyana and at 8:30 pm St Lucia faces off against St Vincent and the Grenadines.
The final day of competition on October 25 at 6:00 pm, St Vincent and Grenadines go up against Curacao and at 8:30 pm St Lucia squares off against Guyana. The two top teams qualify for the next round of the competition.
UPDATE: St Lucia beat Curacao 5-1 in Sunday’s match.
