Lavine to the rescue
by EZRA STUART (Nation News)
Published on: 1/11/07.
HIT BY THE LATE WITHDRAWAL of English-based Paul Ifill and Mark McCammon, the Barbados Football Association (BFA) has sent out an SOS for veteran Irish-based striker Eric Lavine.
The 36-year-old Lavine, who now lives in Ireland, is expected to join the national football team in Trinidad and Tobago just in time for the Bajans' opening match of the Digicel Caribbean Cup finals tomorrow night.
The already depleted Barbados outfit, scheduled to oppose eight-time champions and host country Trinidad and Tobago in a 6 p.m. kick-off at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, suffered yet another blow with the loss of first-choice goalkeeper Alvin Rouse,
who has not recovered fully from a shoulder injury.
Rouse, who has had the experience of playing professionally in Ireland with Sligo Rovers, will be replaced by Arawak Cement Youth Milan's custodian Adrian Chase, with Claytons Kola Tonic Notre Dame's Morrison Taylor moving up to the No.1 position.
Chase, who had a short stint as the team's No.1 goalkeeper following the retirement of Horace Stoute, was expected to leave for Trinidad and Tobago yesterday evening.
English-based players Louis Soares of Aldershot Town and Wrexton's Neil Harvey were also scheduled to join Chase
on that flight.
During the past decade, Lavine received rave reviews for his goal-scoring feats while representing Galway United, Athlone Town and Longford Town. He was Irish Player Of The Year six times, while his club, Longford, won the Irish FA Cup in 2003.
The BFA was busy yesterday finalising arrangements for Lavine to fly from Ireland, via England, to the Caribbean.
The mad scramble for Lavine arose after Ifill pulled out of the squad on Monday after signing a $2.6 million contract for two-and-a-half years with English Championship side Crystal Palace in a transfer from Premier team Sheffield United.
Ifill's withdrawal was followed by that of McCammon, who has been sidelined with an ankle injury picked up last Sunday when his League One club, Doncaster Rovers, was thrashed 4-0 by Premiership side Bolton Wanderers.
The Barbados team, which is coached by Eyre Sealy and Jerry Skeete with the experienced Keith Griffith as technical adviser, has made a significant rise in the FIFA world rankings, moving from 152 last August to 98 at the start of the new year.
Barbados' move up the rankings came about after the team won both their first and second-round Digicel Cup preliminary groups, extending their unbeaten record to nine international matches.
But five other players, Rommell Brathwaite, Elvis Defreitas, Michael Forde, Paul Lovell and Bryan Neblett, who represented the team during that golden run, have been ruled out of the lucrative finals where the champions will pocket US$120 000.
