SPORTS

Time to get serious, coach warns soccer girls

Kerry Dilbert, national team goalkeeper modelling a supporter shirt. Shirts and national flags will be on sale at the gate during the matches on Friday and Sunday.

Friday, December 5, 2003

No joking around, that’s the message from National Women’s Head Coach Thiago Cunha with regards to preparations for the CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifiers which kickoff on Friday, 5 December.

He has had a strict regiment of physical, technical and tactical training both at the George Town Annex in the evenings and public beach in the morning.

“The team improve too much,” he says adding that the fitness has improved drastically since August when the team was first selected.
The tournament, originally scheduled

to kick off on Wednesday, 3 December, was rearranged after the US Virgin Islands dropped out last week. Matches are scheduled for the Truman Bodden Sports Complex as follows:

Friday, 5 December, Jamaica vs, Cayman at 7 pm and Sunday, 7 December, Cayman vs Jamaica at 7 pm.

Cayman will play Jamaica in a two-match series with the winner moving on to the finals in Costa Rica next February.

The Cayman team, consisting of a cross section of youth and more seasoned players has been preparing since August for the tournament. They met Vineyard Town and Harbour View from Jamaica in August and September respectively, then took off for camp in Fort Lauderdale last month where they played Broward All Stars winning 2-1 and the University of Miami Women’s Soccer Team conceding 2-1.

“The last four months have passed by so quickly. I’m amazed at how much we have gelled, gotten to know and learned to understand each other over that time,” said Donna Wilson National Team forward. “ We work together, we help each other and we motivate each other.”

Kerry Dilbert, National Team goalkeeper stressed: “We play with our heart and we want to show our supporters that we can do what we say we can do. We’re going to do better than Fourth of July fire works.”
The tournament, which is the first international regional qualifier for the national Women’s Team, will be officiated by a full compliment of female referees from Canada, Cuba, Honduras, and the USA. The match commissioner Boni Bishop, hails from Trinidad and Tobago in the southeastern Caribbean.

Tickets are $7 at the gate, Funky Tangs or any Western Union location. Children and high school girls with ID get in for free.

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