BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE St. Kitts Under-17 football team has done its country proud by winning the first leg of the FIFA World Cup Championship Qualifiers last week while in Antigua.
The delegation left for Antigua on Monday, July 19 and returned yesterday (Jul. 26) after playing three matches and winning two.
In the first match, the team drew 2-2 with Antigua and was told that they had to beat the other teams by a larger margin in order to qualify.
The young ball weavers went on to play St. Maarten and Anguilla and they convincingly won both matches 7-1 and 12-nil respectively.
At a welcoming ceremony held in the VIP room at the RLB Airport, several officials, including Permanent Secretary within the Ministry of Sports Lloyd Lazar, congratulate the team on its success.
Lazaar told the team that the ministry was delighted when it received information about the win.
“I want to say congratulations to you young men, manager and the coach. We are looking forward to seeing you continue in your effort and continue to work hard, and to do the very best you can on the field of football and off,” he said.
President of the St. Kitts-Nevis Football Association Anthony Johnson thanked the government for providing the facilities where a camp was held leading up to the tournament. He also thanked the coaches, parents, motivational speakers and members of the corporate sector, as well as the Olympic Committee for their donations.
“Success in Antigua was a stepping stone for us in the development of football in St. Kitts. The next step is the round in Trinidad where you will be competing against two of the top seeded teams and a team from Cuba. We believe your success will inspire you to be confident when you travel to Trinidad. Don’t think you have made it, don’t think you have arrived, your success is one that we appreciate and we congratulate you, but we want you to work even harder, so the next time around you return victorious,” he said.
Allsiter Edwards, the team’s coach, said that he was proud of the young players and it is now back to hard work as they will meet today (Jul. 27) and resume training tomorrow.
In an interview with SKNVibes, Edwards said he wants the team to work harder in preparation for the next round.
“In Trinidad they will compete against Trinidad, Cuba and the winner of the Northern Zone that has not been finalised as yet in The Bahamas.
“What I have seen of the Trinidad team…we can win. In terms of Cuba, I am not sure because they seem to concentrate more on having their guys together all the time; they train them and have them living on campus while we only imitate that for a very short period. So we will have to work hard and apply pressure on the teams,” he said.
Dominic Stevens of the SKNFA, who headed the delegation, said the Man of the Tournament award went to Kimarri Rogers who scored six goals in the tournament.
“Not only did he score six goals, but five of them were against Anguilla,” Stevens said.
He said that the team is scheduled to leave for Trinidad on Monday, August 16.
SKNVibes also spoke to some of the players, including goalkeeper Michael Henry Perez, who was said to have performed extremely well.
Perez said one of the key elements that helped the team to be successful was unity.
“We tried to keep the team together,” he added.
Team captain Clyde Mitchum said it was intense training everyday for two weeks leading up to the tournament, as they worked on their shooting and defence.
Midfielder and Man of the Tournament Kimarri Rogers said he has been playing football since age seven and is very happy about their win.
