One-week camp for national team in Tobago
By Neto Baptiste (Antigua Sun)
The senior national team will travel to Tobago on Sunday, one week before the scheduled start of the second leg in the Digicel Caribbean Cup football competition, where they will participate in a one-week camp before going straight into their Group H campaign.
Antigua and Barbuda will take on host Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and St. Kitts and Nevis in a bid to qualify for the next stage of the competition. Antigua and Barbuda will take on Trinidad on 5 Nov in their opening contest before playing Guyana on 7 Nov and tackling St. Kitts and Nevis on 9 Nov.
Manager of the senior team, Fernando “Nando” Abraham, who organised the one-week camp, said that it provides an opportunity for the players to gather themselves mentally in a secluded setting and hopes that it will also serve to boost morale going into the competition.
“It will do us a world of good and it will bring us together before what is a major tournament. It will also give the outside guys (overseas-based players) a chance to come back and blend with the other players as we expect a couple of players from England, Canada and we also have players in Trinidad and having all of them there together for that week will hopefully boost morale as well,” he said.
The former national player went on to add that he expects a tough round of matches in what he calls a big group but believes that Antigua and Barbuda can do well among the top hitters.
“It is a very tough group – a big group – Trinidad is just coming off of a victory over USA and Guyana who, although we beat them here in a friendly match, is still a strong force in regional football while St. Kitts/Nevis has always been our rivals so we expect a tough challenge in Group H,” Abraham said.
Antigua and Barbuda finished at the top of Group C with seven points in September to advance to the second round of matches and would be looking to impress once more in the competition’s second leg. The senior team will leave for Tobago on Sunday afternoon but were slated to commence training on Monday.
