Final 20 selected for St. Kitts and Nevis
Basseterre, St. Kitts — After two months of training and conditioning, the final team for this week’s Caribbean Cup has been announced for Team St. Kitts and Nevis.
The final cut for the team, according to senior officials of the St. Kitts and Nevis football Association, SKNFA, was made over the past weekend.
National Head Coach, Jeffrey “Pedro” Hazel, said that his current crop of players is expected to do well during the tournament and it is a team blended with players from overseas and home based.
Their first outing will be on Wednesday 3rd September, at 8:30pm against St. Lucia, who arrived on island on Tuesday morning; one day after Guyana and Dominica came to town.
The opening game of the matches will feature Guyana and Dominica at 5:30pm also on Wednesday.
The St. Kitts and Nevis team is consisted of 16 players who were born in the Federation, while the others are of European descent, and others are nationals who have been playing in semi and professional leagues here in the Caribbean and the United States.
“We have four from Europe, five from Trinidad and two from the USA…local in the sense that they were born here in St. Kitts and Nevis.
Commenting on the selection of the players, the coach noted that that fitness and their tactical ability on the field of play were several areas that were used to select players for the tournament.
“Well we have criteria. We looked at their ability to play in a particular position or positions; we had a depth chart with which we worked.”
During encampment the team went through rigorous fitness training sessions, worked on their technical ability and their understanding of the game.
“We looked at that in depth to see how many positions each particular player can play and their skill set that they come with for that particular position.”
“We know that people are going to speak about the professional players but they are professionals and would have come from an environment where everything is down pack,” He added.
The team comprised of:
Kyhron Dishan, Abdeel Phillip, Jason St Juste, Orlando Ackiel Mitchum, Jovaughne Joash Leader, Tishan Hanley, Julani Kyle Archibald, Zephaniah Joseph Thomas, Tesfa Tweede Robinson, Rovan Wigley, Romaine Theodore Sawyers, Jamal Jelant Francis, Mudassa Nassa Howe, Thrizen Jahl Leader, Errol Gavin O’Loughlin, Devaughn Omari Elliott, Kareem Evaldo Mitchum, Attis Seymour Hughes, Atiba Harris, Kennedy Sylvester Isles and Gerard Geron Agustus Williams.
The other matches will be played on Friday 5th and Sunday 7th September, starting at 5:30 and 8:30 each night. St. Kitts and Nevis plays Dominica on Friday at 8:30 and Guyana on Sunday in the feature game of the evening.