Wayne ‘Wiggy’ Dover, coach of Alpha ‘the Hammer’ United says that preparations for the 2014 Caribbean Football Union (CFU) club championships have been progressing positively.
Speaking via telephone, Dover said “Preparations have gone well since we started to focus and place more on emphasis on this tournament. We continue to focus on building up the level of fitness required for international football and team organization so that we can compete at the level.”
He added:“It’s a very delicate situation because we know football at the next level is at a different intensity than what is played in Guyana. We have to try to get ourselves up to that level to try to compete with those professional and semi-professional teams and fitness is key at the international level.”
Questioned about the expectations for his side in the event, Dover said “Our expectation and aim is to qualify out of the group as the winner because only one team will progress to the next stage of the competition. That is our aim and objective and at this stage.
“Alpha has been a very good team and dominate on the local level and also showed the capability that we could do well at the international level. We have played four times at this level and this is our fifth sojourn.
“We have a chance to prove that we deserve to be among the top teams in the region and we will prove that once again. We trying to do everything possible to ensure we achieve that. We continue to keep the team close to each other so that we can keep them knitting,” added Dover.
According to Dover, “We brought in two Jamaican players who are Kirk Duckworth and Mark Miller and we also have Kithson Baine. In the transfer period we also acquired Dwaine Jacobs, Ronson Williams and Kester Jacobs. All these players will be part of our arsenal.
“While we would have lost one of our marksman in Anthony Abrams, Gregory Richardson has stepped up to show his quality and capability to finish and that has been proven in the GFF National League by his tally of goals.
“Even Manasseh Primo has shown goal scoring form recently. There is always room for improvement and we hope things can be better but so far we are satisfied and will try to maximize for that,” said Dover.
The tournament, which is open to all champions and runners-up from each respective member association’s premier league, runs from March 21-April 20, 2014 and will feature 13 clubs from nine CFU member states.
The 13 participating club sides are Bodden Town (Cayman Islands), Centro Dominguito (Curacao), USR Sainte-Rose (Guadeloupe), Alpha United (Guyana), Mirebalais (Haiti), Valencia (Haiti), Harbour View (Jamaica), Waterhouse (Jamaica), Bayamon (Puerto Rico), Inter Moengotapoe (Suriname), Notch (Suriname), Defence Force (Trinidad and Tobago) and Caledonia AIA (Trinidad and Tobago).
Alpha United will feature in the Group-3 along with home side Harbour View, Defence Force and Notch. They will open their campaign on March 21st against Defence Force while in their second matchup they will face off with Harbour View on March 23rd.
In their final fixture, the local side will oppose Notch on March 25th. Group-1 which will be hosted in Puerto Rico will feature the likes of Bayamón, Bodden Town, Centro Dominguito and USR Sainte-Rose.
Home side Mirebalais will head Group-2 which also comprises of Waterhouse, Inter Moengotapoe and Caledonia AIA. Haitian side Valencia was given a bye to the final round as the best performer among the entrants both in the previous 2013 CFU Club Championship and the 2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League.
Upon the conclusion of the two rounds of group matches, the emerging finalists and winner of the third place playoff will advance to the CONCACAF Champions League.
