Despite failing to advance to the finals of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Championships, the 2015/16 national champions, Greenbay Hoppers, are taking the positives from the five-day experience.
Hoppers finished third in Group A following consecutive losses to Haiti’s Racing FC and Suriname’s Inter Moengotapoe here at the Antigua Recreation Ground (ARG).
General Secretary for the Hoppers FC Troy Gibson said that from an administrative standpoint, the knowledge acquired would go a long way when preparing for similar events in the future.
“There was a lot of positives with regards to learning how to operate at a higher level, what CONCACAF expects as a host, people learning different roles, learning to balance a major budget and doing everything correctly,” he said.
“My management team learnt a lot in terms of how to prepare before a match, during the match, after the match and getting the paperwork done. So there was a lot of good things that came out of this tournament for us and our fans got to see some good high quality football over the three days,” he added.
Hoppers ended the competition with three points with their only victory in Group A coming against St Vincent & the Grenadines’ Bequia United.
Despite the disappointing results, Gibson believes that his team managed to compete against what could be considered better-prepared and professional units.
“We were never out of any of the matches and especially the last two but the experience of playing against high level opposition showed. Obviously, I still believe we have the best league in the Caribbean but obviously these teams have been fully professional for a longer period than us, so those guys understands what it means to be playing at a high level for 90 minutes,” the official said.
Haiti’s Racing FC advances to the final round of the competition slated for May 14-21.