By Neto Baptiste
A “slightly different” approach will be employed by the senior women’s national football team when they take on visitors Anguilla in their Group A FIFA World Cup Qualifier slated for the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Wednesday.
This is according to head coach Vincent “Nabu” Samuel, who stopped short of revealing any details regarding their strategy for the must-win encounter.
“There are certain things you don’t divulge when you come up against an opponent and we don’t know who is listening, but let’s say the game plan is going to be different as far as that is concerned. We will be playing a different kind of game because the reality now is that we are on home turf so we have to take the challenges, we have to take the game because we are going all out for a [win]. We need to chalk points so our approach now at this point in time has to be different than the approach from the away games,” he said.
Wednesday’s clash is slated to kick off at 4pm and carries an admission fee of $10. Samuel urged fans to turn out in support of the women as they seek to rebound from a heavy 8-0 loss to Mexico in February.
“We need that support. I [encourage] the whole of Antigua who really love football — because we have not had football at this kind of level for some time — now is the time for us to come and give these girls support in a way we never did. They are a lot of young individuals, a lot of exciting players, so we need that support so that 12th man is really critical for us,” he said.
Meanwhile, vice-captain and midfielder Kai Jacobs is hoping that she and other senior players could play a major role in guiding the younger players.
“It’s a much younger squad this time around, but as seniors we have to set an example for them, be somebody they can look up to. How we perform, how we behave we can tell that’s the way they will perform when they get older, too,” she said.
The Benna Girls were beaten 4-0 by Puerto Rico in their Group A opener.
Squad: Goal keepers: Anik Jarvis and Makiesha Simon. Gabriel De Suza, Monica Bird, Tritch Ann Grant, Kai Jacobs, Luan Tomlinson, Shunnye Christopher, Skyla Scavo, Breana Roberts, Shakea O’Garro, Virginia Simon, Devikka Tittle, Tassianne Benjamin, Zolique Samuel, Denesia Samuel, Tyanna Simon, Breanna Humphreys, Dafina Simon, Jahira James, Brianna Auguiste, Kevoncia James and Deborah Weston.