Saint Lucia is set to host the Dominican Republic today (Saturday) at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, for the first of two matches in the Concacaf Nations League. Game time is 6:00 pm. The second match, against Montserrat, will take place at the same venue at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, November 19.
Expect a new look Saint Lucian team, bolstered by overseas players, which is where the Saint Lucia Football Association (SLFA) Inc. will focus its attention in the future. At a press conference on Tuesday at the SLFA office in La Clery, President of the SLFA Inc., Lyndon Cooper let it be known that in order for Saint Lucia to achieve success on the grand stage (World Cup), it cannot be business as usual when it comes to selecting players for national teams.
In brief, here’s what he had to say: “The selection of national teams appear to be exclusively for or from domestic competitions. I want to make it abundantly clear that as of January 1, method requirements of the pool selection for any national team at the SLFA comes from the entire world. I am saying this because there appears to be a notation that we can’t look and decide singlehandedly or individually, domestic competitions is what is required by players, by coaches to be selected or to be part of the prerequisite for national selection. The world is no longer in a direction where international football is solely the responsibility, or chosen from—what we would call in the past in football language—home-grown talent. The reality for us as a country is that whilst the world is moving at a pace that is unprecedented, we are still, as a country and an association, as a club, as a league, as coaches, moving in a direction or pace that we have been moving prior to 1927. The world is no longer waiting for us to compete. The reality is every single country is putting their best player on the field. Every single country that has succeeded has put professional players on the field.”
Cooper pointed out that the SLFA Inc spent just below one million dollars on the Senior National team for the Nations League, which does not include airfares for bringing back players, or airfares for flying in professional players. He said: “It means, as a country, as an association, we must, with haste, move in the inner direction to justify the cost of participation. No country in the world spends a million dollars on their senior team as amateurs, of course; why should we do it as an SLFA?” Changes are on the way. Cooper clarified: “I want to make it clear and precise to all players, coaches and all individuals that the pool for selecting national players from 14 years to 65 is the entire world, and we need to move in that direction.”
With regard to Saint Lucia’s two remaining games in the Nations League, against Dominican Republic and Montserrat, Cooper remarked, “We have to do our utmost as a country to give the team the necessary support on the field.” He encouraged everyone to attend both games, so that Saint Lucia can stand a significant chance of remaining in Group B, which is the second division of the Nations League.
During a question and answer session, the SLFA Inc President was asked: “It’s all well and good for Saint Lucia to pursue international players, but wouldn’t that be a financial burden for the SLFA Inc?” He replied: “There is no team that has gone to the World Cup and it is not a financial burden. Saint Lucia is not an exception. But we cannot be an association and our programme is to play Island Cup, Blackheart, Veterans and Super League; there must be a target, there must be something that is going to create or maintain our existence.”
Time will tell!
In other news, the SLFA Inc., with assistance from Concacaf, presented equipment to the following clubs competing in the President’s Cup: Bays FC, 1987 All-stars, B1 FC, Diamond Ballers, GMC, Flow Lancers FC, New Generation FC, RV Juniors, Togetherness Youth and Victory Eagles.
