BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE St. Kitts-Nevis World Cup squad in training Squad is in the process of preparing itself to compete in the second round of the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifier games scheduled to begin early next month.
The 24 teams which have advanced to the second round of the competition have been placed into six groups (A-F) with St. Kitts-Nevis along with Canada, Puerto Rico and St. Lucia comprising Group D.
Group A countries are El Salvador, Dominical Republic, Suriname and Cayman Islands; Group B countries are Trinidad and Tobago, Bermuda, Guyana and Barbados; and Group C countries are Panama, Bahamas, Dominica and Nicaragua.
Grenada, Belize, Guatemala and St. Vincent and the Grenadines are in Group E, while Haiti, the United States Virgin Islands, Antigua & Barbuda and Curacao are in Group F.
Coach of the St. Kitts-Nevis World Cup team Clinton Percival, speaking with SKNVibes, said preparations for the matches had to be halted but are now back in full swing.
“We had initially started training sessions for the World Cup Qualifier and we had to halt the practice because most of the players were involved in the Final Four Play-Offs. So, immediately after the Final Four finished, we called the squad back together again including some new players that were in the Final Four and we started on August 2. So that gives us one month preparation for the first game.
“The practices have been going fairly okay. On the upcoming weekend, we will have a trial game and, after the game, we will probably be breaking down the squad to a smaller number so it can be more manageable.”
As part of the preparative process, a trial game will be played between members of the squad on Sunday (Aug. 7) at Warner Park, commencing at 4:00 p.m.
According to the CONCACAF schedule, a total of 12 matches would be played - two on each match day - and each country would play three games on home soil and three matches in their opponents’ territory.
The Puerto Rican team will travel to St. Kitts, where both teams are scheduled to do battle on September 2. Simultaneously, Canada will take on St. Lucia on Canadian soil.
The St. Lucian team would be in St. Kitts for the September 6 match and a simultaneous match will be played in Puerto Rico, featuring Canada and Puerto Rico.
St. Lucia will host Canada and Puerto Rico will host St. Kitts-Nevis for the October 7 games while Canada will host Puerto Rico and St. Kitts-Nevis will host St. Lucia for the for the October 11 matches.
St. Kitts-Nevis will be playing against Canada and St. Lucia against Puerto Rico on November 11. The final game of the round will take place on November 15 with host country Canada tackling St. Kitts-Nevis and host territory Puerto Rico playing against St. Lucia.
