SKN senior football team preps for El Salvador in weekend Barbados match

Basseterre, St. Kitts, 9th May 2015 – The St. Kitts-Nevis senior men’s football team will engage Barbados over the weekend in an international friendly match aimed at honing their skills for their tango with El Salvador in June.

The team departed St. Kitts on Friday 8 for the Sunday match-up in Bridgetown. According to Stanley Jacobs, secretary general of the St. Kitts-Nevis Football Association, the friendly is intended to bring the national team together in a competitive environment.

Jacobs expressed high confidence and expectations for this year’s senior team and believes they are competitive.

“We have a very talented team, a mix of local based players and professional players who are playing overseas. We believe the professional players bring to the team a wealth of experience and professionalism in their approach to the game, and that has a positive impact on the team. Our expectations are high for this group of players, and we believe they will do the country proud,” Jacobs stated.

But the team’s participation in the Barbados friendly has another aim beside preparation for the El Salvador encounter. According to Jacobs, the international match would provide needed practice for another purpose.

“The team comprises some senior players and also some young players. It’s an opportunity for the coach to see a number of the young players exposed at this level, as many of them will be engaged later on in an Olympic qualification tournament,” Jacobs said, indicating that the Olympic qualification matches will start near the end of June.

Meanwhile, as the national team enhances its skills and physical preparedness in Barbados, national team Assistant Coach Shavon Douglas is looking ahead to the encounter with El Salvador in June. “The team’s technical proficiency is good, but notwithstanding, we are coming up against a formidable opponent in El Salvador, so we are fully aware that technical proficiency has to be stepped up a few notches,” said Douglas,

Douglas said along with technical skills, the team is also preparing, mentally, to meet the higher ranked team from El Salvador.

“We believe that the game has to be won on the field of play, not withstanding our respect for El Salvador. Part of our psychology in preparing for the event is that we believe we have every right to be on the same pitch as they are, and we are going out believing that we can do it, as long as we can execute in the right places and at the right time,” the assistant coach stated.