Alpha United head coach Wayne Dover said yesterday the lack of competitive football locally was one of the main reasons for his side’s disappointing showing in the CONCACAF Champions League.
Alpha United are unable to qualify for the second round of the region’s premier club tournament following three losses in as many group games. They are set to faceoff with MLS unit Portland Timbers on September 23rd in the final group fixture in the USA and will depart local shores on Saturday.
In an exclusive interview, Dover said: “That is one main reasons because we went up against teams that were already in the middle of the season playing in well-structured and competitive leagues. Unlike Alpha, who would have played their last competitive league game in the last fixture of the CFU Cup, qualifying as the group winner against two of the powerhouse nations of the region.
“We could have been using our National League which would have been a competitive league for us to get valuable game time. Instead, we had to settle for games against combined local teams who are not as fit as us so they could not have given us the type of game required to test the things worked on in training and to see how effective they were.”
He added: “Coming straight out of the National League and playing in the Goodwill Tournament we entered the CFU championship as a fit unit. Having a whole season of football played which we have seen from the evidence of qualifying from the CFU Cup topping the group.
“Unlike entering the CONCACAF Champions League, it shows clearly we were short of game time. No match rhythm and not as cohesive as we would want to be in a tournament of this magnitude,” he explained.
Asked about the state of preparation for the final round game Dover said: “Once again the preparation for the final matchup we have to resort to local games to get us match ready. We played Den Amstel who seems to be a very competitive team at this moment having played the Guyana national team and drawing 3-3.
“We looked at the match from the standpoint where we can gain valuable confidence in goal scoring. Our approach was to score as much as possible and we achieved that by winning 6-0. We will have a final game today against a combined team to continue in the quest to gain the confidence in goal scoring which has been one of the things that has plagued us in this championship.”
Questioned about his side’s approach for the final fixture, he said: “We do want to end on a high note but we have to be cognizant that these are better teams than us and we cannot approach the game with a mindset just to win. If we are not as organized as we want to be on the day, just as I mentioned before the Olimpia away game, it would be easy for us to concede four, five or six goals.
“We will concentrate and place emphasis on keeping that score line down, hence if we can snatch a win, it will be a bonus to us in our rough tournament,” he said.
Quizzed if they will be changes in the starting XI, Dover said: “In the Olimpia game we opted for changes in order to give the younger players a little more exposure so that they can gain valuable experience. However, that didn’t work for us with regards to the results but I think we have achieved our objective with the exposure given so that these young players in the future will not be nervous coming up against big teams.
“Going into this final game, we will have a defensive mindset but of course we would want to get a positive result whether win or draw. If that’s the case on the day where we will not achieve a win or a draw, at least the score line must be down and that in itself will be a victory for us going forward.”
