Wrong move!
The decision supposedly made by the Executive of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation to host Guyanaâs âGolden Jaguarsâ âhere this Sunday in an international friendly exhibits passion over practicability.{{more}}
Putting things into proper prospective, the St. Vincent and the Grenadines team has been on a extended lay off since playing their last unsuccessful world cup qualifying match last November 15 here against Belize.
The local playersâ major engagements have been in the current Hairoun Beer National Invitational Community Inter League Championships.
The Vincentians are coming off another disappointing world cup campaign, where they won one match, drew two and lost three.
The friendly against Guyana also comes at a time when there is confusion over the status of Technical Director and Head Coach Colwyn Rowe, who resigned three months ago, but who is technically still employed by the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation.
This means that not much from a technical stand point has been done since November to ensure systems are in place to evaluate the most recent performance and chart the way forward.
Therefore, Sundayâs match will be more or less a sweat for the Vincentians, as the senior national team has not been in any serious preparation, as after any world cup campaign, the teams are disbanded until another competition turns up.
On the other hand, the Guyanese have a larger mission at stake and are on a high after topping their group and advancing to the semi final phase of the 2014 World Cup, where they are bunched with Mexico, El Salvador and Costa Rica.
During their second round of the qualifiers, Guyana lost only their last match against Trinidad and Tobago, after being assured of the single qualification spot available in their group, which also involved Bermuda and Barbados.
Whilst the Guyanese will be without many of the overseas based players who were pivotal in them getting to this stage of the qualifiers, their home based players have been in training as a unit for a consistent period, and definitely will be more cohesive, and a fitter bunch than the Vincentians.
Similarly, the Guyanese touched down in Trinidad and Tobago and engaged in matches there prior to coming here, hence will be match fit.
Modern day Football has gone past the grabbing at anyone who wants a warm up, but entails rational discourse and tactical and prudent decisions.
Associations, federations and coaches are very meticulous in choosing their opponents, as they are aware of the consequences of adverse results and the damaging effects they could have on the overall Football product, especially the psyche of the players and those who follow whole heartedly the sport.
This is not to say that with home court advantage coupled with the willingness of the players and morale support that the Vincentians cannot upstage the more fancied Guyanese.
One will readily say if the latter happens that our Football is sound and we possess good players.
But this sort of flash in the pan, fluking happenings are almost unheard of in the world of sports, and Football has not escaped this notion.
On the positive side, though, Sundayâs match must give a gauge of the crop available for national selection, as later this year, St. Vincent and the Grenadines will venture out into the Digicel Caribbean Championships.
It will give newly elevated temporary Head Coach Cornelius Huggins an opportunity to be in full charge for the first time of the senior team.
It is new territory for Huggins who was captain of the team as late as last November in the away match to Belize on November 11.
But is this the way we should choose to groom someone into headship of a national outfit?
One may argue that some persons learn to swim best when thrown at the deep end of the sea.
The stacks are heavily laid against the home team. However, Vincentians should give their support to the local players who will need that and more.
This column, though, is hoping for a Vincentian victory, as Football needs such a fillip.
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