Alpha United Head Coach Wayne Dover said his side will leave no stone unturned in their pursuit of qualification for the second round of the CONCACAF Champions League, when the event commences on Tuesday.
“Our first objective is to win the first game. We taking it a game at a time and that would shape things for us if we get a positive result. We have the confidence that we can get a good result on August fifth and confident that we can come out of this group. We will leave no stone unturned in trying to get out of the group,” said Dover in an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sport.
“We made the preparation to come out of the games with good results. Football is not a secret anymore and everyone has access to information these days. While we wouldn’t have seen a lot of the other teams, we have some information that can help,” he added.
Questioned about the status of the team’s preparation, Dover said: “We had a period to condition them as well as to work on some tactics in terms of pattern on how we will attack and defend as a unit. We also had a few practice games and we are quite satisfied with what we saw coming out of those games.”
Asked if sufficient scouting material was gathered for the opposing teams, Dover said: “It’s networking. We have friends all over the world and in this technological age, it’s easy to access information on any team. We have our contacts and we were given valuable material and we will make the best use of it.
“It is a known fact that both teams are professional clubs and we expect a certain level of play from them. We expect them to be very fit and organized. We will have to ensure that we organize ourselves and concentrate on making sure we give a good performance which would aid in a good result.”
Questioned what his side’s participation in the event means for Guyana’s football, Dover said:” I think that the whole Guyana should come out and support. Never in the history of Guyana football have we had a team being at such a high level tournament.
“This in itself proves that Guyana has standards and it’s for the administrative arm of football to do the things necessary to aid in the development of players, clubs, hence the country’s football.”
He urged the powers that be to put a national development programme in place speedily.
“The faster administrators embark on ensuring a national development programme is in place so we can address the fundamentals and the club structure properly, we can move in the direction of a professional/semi-professional league and see much more clubs meeting this distance in international football from Guyana.
“I implore on them to place much more emphasis on development in the true sense of the word development,” he added.
Alpha United qualified for the 2014/2015 CONCACAF Champions League following group victories over Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago champions Harbour View and Defence Force respectively in their CFU qualification playoff tournament.
Alpha United who are paired in group-5 with Honduras’s Olimpia and USA’s Portland Timbers, will open their campaign on Tuesday against the Honduras side at the National Stadium Providence. They will then faceoff with Portland Timbers at the same venue on August 19.
The local side will then engage Olimpia on August 28 in the return leg while they lock horns with Portland Timbers on September 23 in their final away fixture. Winner of the tournament will earn the opportunity to represent the region in the FIFA Club World Club. Mexico’s Cruz Azul is the event’s defending champions.
