The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

A LEADING Bahamas football official yesterday refuted suggestions that the Bahamas Football Association (BFA) had not assembled the best team possible to represent the country in the CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship last week.

Contrary to reports circulating on social media that there were players that should have been given the opportunity to compete last week at the Malcolm Park West stadium, team manager Jason McDowall insisted the selection was fair and transparent and the 12 players represented the country to the best of their abilities.

“We did have the best team on that field,” McDowall stated empahtically. “We’ve seen the reports online that the Bahamas didn’t select the best team, but we did. That’s the best we’ve ever performed.

“We finished sixth out of 16 teams. We’ve never done that before. Only once ever have we won three competitive games in a row and we have never won our group. Unfortunately, the coach didn’t play all of the players but we have to accept his decision. He’s the coach.”

McDowall said despite what is being circulated on social media, he and the BFA are confident that the best team was selected and that if there was any player not on the team, it was because of one of two reasons.

McDowall said that, in order to participate in the CONCACAF Championship, all players must pass a medical examination that is administered by the team doctor and must undertake a Pre-Competition Medical Assessment (PCMA).

“When they play for the World Cup and CONCACAF, they want to make sure that all of the players are healthy and they are not going to drop down and die,” said McDowall, who also serves as the first vice president of the BFA.

“So we brought in our team doctor, who is also a member of WADA, and the Bahamas Doping Control Board. She’s our team doctor and we got her to clear everyone with their medical assessment.”

All of the 12 players selected for the Bahamas squad in the tournament last week had passed their medical exams. For those who argued that they should have been on the team, McDowall said they were either injured or were not cleared medically by the doctor to participate.

“So if that player is trying to create some mischief on social media, he wasn’t cleared medically to play,” McDowall stressed. “Everyone had to go through the medical clearance. We had one player who was injured and one who wasn’t cleared medically to play.”

McDowall said the BFA had 21 players in their pool for the final selection of 12. He said the head coach, Alexandre Soares from Brazil, submitted his 12-man selection to McDowall, who in turn presented it to the BFA board for final approval.

“The selection was approved by the board,” McDowall said. “We had some players in the list of 21 who were off the island, one who was injured and one or two whom the doctor felt was not suitable to play because they didn’t pass their medical.”

The team, led by Lesly St Jean, who scored 11 goals, went on to win Group A with a 3-0 win-loss record, but lost two of their last three games - against Guadeloupe and the United States - to finish in sixth place overall.

However, by virtue of being the hosts, the Bahamas will join qualifiers Panama and Mexico in representing the CONCACAF region in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup from April 27 to May 7 in Nassau at the newly constructed beach soccer facility.

With the CONCACAF Beach Soccer completed, McDowall said 21 names will again be submitted into a players’ pool when the process begins again with Soares and his assistant Stephen Bellot selecting 12 to be ratified again by the BFA.

“When a tournament is coming up, it’s normally a month or three weeks away, you select your players,” McDowall stressed. “In the case of the World Cup, by March 28, I have to submit a list of 21 players to FIFA.

“Out of that list, we will submit the final list of 12 players who the coaches select and are approved by the BFA board at least three weeks prior to the start of the World Cup. So right now, because CONCACAF is finished, there is no national team. We will have a national squad that will train before the final selection is made for the national team.”

McDowall said once players on the squad pass their medical exams, they are eligible for selection for the national team.

“We do screening on everything,” he said. “Once you have done the PCMA exam for CONCACAF, you don’t have to do it again for the World Cup because it lasts for a few months.

“We had four players that had to go through the extended medical exams. But once you make the squad and you didn’t have to do it for CONCACAF, you will have to do it for the World Cup.”