The Tribune

WHEN the men’s national team play in the Bahamas Beach Soccer Cup this weekend at the National Beach Soccer Stadium at Malcolm Park, Gavin Christie said they will be ready for the challenge from Mexico, Spain and the United States.

The three-day tournament is all set to get underway on Friday and expected to wrap up on Sunday.

Christie, who served as the captain of the team when the Bahamas hosted the FIFA World Cup Qualifier last year, said they are excited to be playing in another beach soccer tournament.

“Since playing in the Beach Soccer World Cup Qualifier, the team wanted more matches and now we have another big tournament on our shores, so the team is excited and I’m hoping that the fans are excited as well to see us play against them,” Christie said.

The Bahamas will host Mexico in the second game on the first day of competition at 7:15pm. Their match will follow the opening match at 6pm between Spain and the United States.

On Saturday, the USA and Mexico will play the opener at 6pm, followed by the Bahamas versus Spain at 7:15pm. Then, on the final day, Spain and Mexico will play the opener at 6pm and the Bahamas will take on the USA in the final game at 7:15pm.

“We have played each of the teams previously over the years, but this is a very high calibre tournament with some very big teams,” Christie said. “Spain is considered one of the top teams in the world and then you have Mexico and the USA, who are considered two of the top countries in CONCACAF, so there are no easy games.

“We have some very experienced teams with experienced players, so every match is going to be a fight to the end.”

Christie will join the other members of the team that include goalkeepers Julio Jemison and Ivan Rolle, along with Kyle Williams, Nesly Jean, Dwayne Forbes, Daron Beneby, Lesly St Fleur and Jean Francois. The head coach is Roberto Ceciliano.

In preparation for the tournament, Christie said they have been training at least 6-7 times a week working on their fitness level in the gym and on their skills work on the pitch and so he feels they are ready.

“The only thing that always challenges us is that we don’t play as many games a year as we would like,” he pointed out.

“But we need more tournaments like this. In order to grow the team, we need to play more high level matches on a consistent basics. In a perfect world, we would like for all of our players to be professional beach soccer players, but we have to work 9-5 and train twice a day. “But if it was the reverse, you would really see this team grow and develop into a world contender.

“But nevertheless, we work with what we have and we hope to be ready to put on a good show for the Bahamian people.”

Like they did last year, Christie said the Bahamas intends to give the visiting teams a run for their money.