By Neto Baptiste
A total of five teams are set to compete in the Jewels of the Caribbean U15 Girls Invitational Tournament to be hosted by the Antigua and Barbuda Football Association (ABFA) starting Saturday at the ABFA technical and training centre in Paynters.
Technical director for football and former national player Sowerby Gomes said the tournament was organised by countries that were forced to pull out of the CONCACAF Girls Under-15 tournament held at the IMG in Florida due to visa issues.
“This was born out of the idea that we were not able to participate in the CONCACAF tournament up in Florida because of the visa issues and that plagued quite a number of Caribbean countries. We were so happy that Dominica, St Vincent, Grenada, St Lucia all could have come and board and join this particular tournament so that our girls would not feel left out or a little bit disappointed,” he said.
According to Gomes, the tournament which kicks off with a double-header on Saturday night, has received recognition from both the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) and Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF).
“These games are sanctioned by CFU and CONCACAF and they are aware of our tournament and what’s happening on the ground. So, they certainly welcomed this situation because it is about getting the girls to play, and anything to have them playing is what the football body is all about,” he said.
According the reports, the ABFA will cover some costs associated with accommodation and meals for the visiting teams. Gomes said they will do so with the help of a number of corporate citizens.
“It is costing all the teams in terms of travel fares because these teams have to travel to Antigua. The accommodation for our local team along with these participating teams comes with a cost. We would have gotten some sponsors to assist us, like Cool & Smooth, our water company Paradiso and Joma who have come on board to assist the ABFA,” the former defender said.
Dominica will take on St Vincent and the Grenadines in the first encounter on Saturday starting at 5pm, while hosts Antigua and Barbuda face Grenada at 7pm.