Barbados senior men’s football team received a favourable tie when the draw was made for the inaugural Concacaf Gold Cup Preliminary Round, last Monday evening via a virtual presentation from Miami, Florida.
The Tridents have been drawn against Caribbean counterparts Bermuda in game six of the knockout competition, with the winner vying for a place against regional powerhouse Haiti or St Vincent & Grenadines who face each other in the first encounter, in the United States next summer.
In 13 matches Bermuda has won five matches and Barbados four, with the remaining games finishing in draws, one of which was the last encounter in 2018 at the Usain Bolt Sports Complex in Barbados, where 16-year-old Thierry Gale made his debut in a 0-0, low-key affair.
The “Gombey Warriors” had a difficult tenure in League A of the Concacaf Nations League; finishing bottom of the Group B with 3 points and relegated to League B.
While the Tridents finished top of Group A of League C with four wins and were promoted to League B of the Nations League.
Despite this form, Bermuda has earned Concacaf Gold Cup experience after their debut appearance last year and will be counting on that to get them over the line against their higher ranked opponents.
However, Tridents coach Russell Latapy sees their Nations League success as the starting position for his team to achieve international success and the Gold Cup is the perfect platform to do so.
“We’re looking forward to it. We’ve never qualified for a major tournament and this is an opportunity for us, we’re going to make every effort to move up in the football world. Barbados football needs to qualify for a major tournament. We have talented players and they need an opportunity to showcase themselves,” said Latapy (quote complements Concacaf).
Concacaf Preliminary Round matches:
Haiti vs St Vincent & Grenadines
Guatemala vs Guyana
Trinidad & Tobago vs Montserrat
Cuba vs French Guiana
Guadeloupe vs Bahamas
Bermuda vs Barbados
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