Greenbay Hoppers bolstered ahead of CFU Club Championships

The experience of former Cuban national under-17 football coach, Dorium Diaz, will give Greenbay Hoppers a competitive edge going into Group A of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Championship starting here on Wednesday.
This is according to General Secretary, Troy Gibson, who said the Cuban, who has been working with the Five Islands FC throughout the domestic competition, will be assisted by former player turned coach, Rolston Phoenix.
“We were speaking to a [coach] out of England who was recommended by Justin Cochrane and we were speaking to [Theodore] Whitmore. We had gotten positive feedback from both persons and Whitmore was committed to coming through but Jamaica was doing some friendly matches against the USA and, I think, Ecuador. And so he has really been tied up. So contract negotiations as to what would have been needed and the time, wasn’t really coming back into our favour,” he said.
“We sat down and decided to really give Rolston Phoenix [Lexy] and the Cuban coach from Five Islands [Dorium Diaz] who is a high licensed coach and had coached at the CONCACAF level for many years with the Cuba Under-17 team,” he added.
Greenbay Hoppers take on Bequia United out of St. Vincent & the Grenadines in Wednesday’s featured contest slated for 7pm at the Antigua Recreation Ground.
Haiti’s Racing des Gonaives face Surinam’s Inter Moengotapoe in Wednesday’s opening match scheduled to start at 5pm.
Hoppers, Gibson said, is somewhat concerned over minor injuries plaguing some players heading into their opening contest.
“It’s not really improved to be quite honest. Ziggy [Tamarley Thomas] has gotten better in terms of resting and not doing five days of practice but there are some other guys who are still pulling up a bit and still have those nagging little injuries. The physio has been working overtime to try and get them in shape,” he said.
Gibson also thanked the government and the local Football Association for their assistance in preparing to host the group here.
“Basically, they are helping us with ground preparation. They are helping us with some costs in terms of cleaning and organizing in ARG and administering the games during the three days of matches. And they have [also] helped from an administrative standpoint in terms of how to deal with players moving across and stuff like that so we have a better understanding of it,” the Hoppers GS said.
Admission throughout the tournament is $10 per adult and $5 per child under 12-years-old.