With less than six days remaining before Fruta Conquerors depart for Curacao to compete in the CONCACAF 2019 Caribbean Club Shield, club secretary Daniel Thomas sat down with Stabroek Sport to discuss the club’s preparation and expectations for the event.
1. What are your expectations for the tournament?
“Our expectations for the tournament is that we should do well; well in the sense that we do expect to move forward out of the group to the quarter-final phase. That in itself would be an achievement, but the ultimate goal is to appear in the finals.”
“The head coach Sampson Gilbert knew since winning the league that our team was expected to attend and be a part of this prestigious CONCACAF Caribbean Cup Shield Competition and the ball has been in his court to ensure that his charges were properly prepared. He’s had the fullest backing of the entire executive committee, and as such we hope that a good account is given.”
2. What is the status of the team’s preparation?
“Like I did mention earlier, the coach has been aware of our impending participation in this tournament, and since January of this year, the team has been going through their paces. Much conditioning work has been done by Coach Wilson Toledo – Coaching Education Director of the Guyana Football Federation. He has done tremendous work in raising the levels of the fitness of the players.”
“Coach Sampson has been working on the tactical and technical preparedness for the team and his work has been supported by Coach Gersild Wright (goalkeeping coach), and Coach Eon De Viera who is the National goalkeeping coach attached to the Technical Department of the GFF.”
3. Has the team received the necessary funding to properly prepare for the prestigious tournament? Also, could you reveal some of the entities that were pivotal in aiding the team’s preparation?
“We are not there yet in terms of all of our finances, but we have tried our best as an executive committee. We have tried to solicit extra funding through our usual reliable sources and we would like to thank the National Milling Company (NAMILCO), the Guyana Football Federation, the Guyana Beverage Company Inc, Radar Security Services and K&P Project Management and Consultants and Federal Express Shipping.”
4. From a technical standpoint, could you disclose how the team was selected?
“The team is basically our core players from the season III of the Elite League with a few additions that came based upon the recommendations of the head coach. Some efforts were made towards ensuring that selection was based upon attendance at training sessions, and not just mere attendance but also punctuality.”
5. Were overseas-based players selected or considered for the event? If yes, could you state the reasons behind their selection?
“No overseas players were selected. We would have gladly sought a few but our club does not have that kind of financial strength to make that a reality just yet. Hopefully, in the not too distant future, we shall try again when we top season IV.”
6. Was the management team able to acquire any scouting information on their impending opponents?
“I would want to assume that Coach Sampson would have done so as part of his preparation. It has been about two months now since we were notified by CONCACAF of the teams in our group and who would be participating in the competition. I’ve personally seen a few games of some of the teams so there should be no excuses on the part of our technical staff about they lack knowledge of the opposing teams; there are [videos] available on YouTube for viewing.”
Fruta Conquerors are expected to depart local shores on April 3rd. They have been drawn in Group A alongside Jong Holland, Scholars International Sports Club and Santiago de Cuba.
After round-robin play, each group’s winners and runners-up will advance to the quarter-finals. The quarter-final winners will automatically qualify to the semi-finals. The final will then be played on Monday, April 15, 2019. The winner of the 2019 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield, provided that the said team meets the CONCACAF Regional Club licensing criteria, will have the opportunity to face the fourth-place finishers of the 2019 Flow CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship in a playoff match to determine the fourth Caribbean representative in the 2019 Scotiabank CONCACAF League.
