The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Football Association has not yet released the names of its 12-member team, but beach soccer chairman Gavin Christie said they will have a very diversified squad to compete in the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Beach Soccer Championships.

The team, according to Christie, a vice president of the BFA, will be announced today just in time for the start of the championships on Monday at the national beach soccer stadium. The Bahamas will be among 11 visiting countries participating in the World Cup Qualifier with all games free of charge for the spectators.

Making up Group A are El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guadeloupe and the Turks and Caicos. Group B will include Mexico, The Bahamas, Guatemala and Belize. The United States, Panama, Trinidad & Tobago and Dominican Republic consist of Group C.

“These 12 teams will be competing for spots in the quarterfinals,” according to Bruce Swan, the BFA’s technical director. “The top two teams from each group will qualify with the best two third places for the playoffs.”

From Monday to Wednesday, the preliminary rounds will start at noon with the Bahamas playing at 7:30pm each night. After taking a break on Thursday, the quarterfinals will be played on Friday with the semifinals on Saturday and the final on Sunday.

With this being the biggest qualifier for CONCACAF, the top two teams who make it to the final will automatically qualify for the World Cup in Dubai later this year. In total those two teams will have to win at least five games during the tournament.

Based on what they have been doing over the past few weeks, Christie said the Bahamas is hoping to take advantage of their home turf to advance to the World Cup.

“We have a world-class coach with tremendous experience that has won four World Cups with Brazil and so we are fortunate to have him coaching us and guiding us in the right direction,” Christie said.

“Out of the 15 players we are working with, it’s a very diverse combination of experience mixed with youth and I’m excited to see and I can’t wait until Monday to show this team unravelled and show up for the first game on Monday.”

Christie, who was a member of the Bahamas team that hosted the last CONCACAF Tournament in 2017 when they won over Colombia and Mexico, said the BFA is delighted to have beach soccer back on the shores of the Bahamas in their fantastic stadium.

“The team has been prepping. We are ready. It’s always good for us to play at home in front of our home fans. They are like the sixth person on the pitch,” Christie said. “So we’re happy for that.

“We travel a lot to play, but it’s time for us to showcase this because we travel a lot. Now it’s time to showcase the Bahamas to our people, to our family and to our fans. It’s time to showcase what we have been doing over the last 10 years.”

With the team evolving with some new players coming on board, Christie encouraged the public to come out and watch the Bahamas’ opening match against Guatemala at 7:30pm on Monday night.

However, he encouraged the public to view all of the games, starting at noon each day, which are free of charge.

Said Adam Miller, the liaison officer in the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, representing Minister Mario Bowleg.

“It is this government’s mandate that we bring sports back to Paradise and this type of event is a great opportunity for us to showcase what we have to offer as a host,” said Miller, a former technical director of the BFA. “This is the third time we are hosting this event in the last 10 or 12 years, so we are capable, as a country, to host this type of event.

“This is a very important year, being the 50th anniversary of our nation, and this is an important event for the growth of beach soccer in the country.

“As a government, we realise that hosting these types of events are vital for our national teams, not only for them to qualify and move on to higher tournaments, but to showcase to the Bahamian people that we can compete on the international stage.”

Also present were goalkeeper Michael Butler, Lesly St Fleur, the most prolific Bahamian beach soccer goal scorer, and rising young player Cameron Hanna.

St Fleur said the expectations are very high for Team Bahamas.

“As a leader and a player on this team, I bring my experience to the team and guide the players and the expectations is to go out there and fight,” St Fleur said. “We just have to go out there and do our best and hope that we can come out victorious.”

St Fleur once again will be making the transition from playing grass to beach soccer, having represented the Bahamas in both aspects of the sport.

“We started back in 2009 and it was new to everybody. Most of the players who played grass ended up playing beach. It was a kind of change because you played barefoot (in beach),” St Fleur said. “As we continued to train, we all got adapted to it.

“For me, it was kind of different and a challenge, but I love the sport, so I had to challenge myself. That’s how come I am where I am right now.”

Beach soccer, according to Butler, is one of the fastest growing sports in the world with most of the grass soccer players making the transition because soccer is shorter, more goals are scored and the competition is much more intense.

Butler, who comes home having played extensively in Florida and Canada, is expected to anchor the team as the goalkeeper.

He said he’s going to be like the second captain on the pitch.

“A lot of my team-mates look up to me and they ask me for my experience,” he said “I think the team trusts me and I take my responsibility very seriously.”

And Hanna, who is returning for his third appearance on the team, said the preparation has been very intense with training every day with no days off.

“We have to come out and listen to the coach. Sometimes we have morning and afternoon practices, so we really have to double down,” Hanna said.

“The training is going good. The guys are really committed to the training. Mike and Les are our experienced players, so we look up to them.”

Christie said beach soccer is so entertaining now because it’s a fast pitch with high intensity and there’s lots of music being played and that is why it is catching on like wildfire.

He encouraged the public to come out and be entertained in the series of games being played next week from all of the teams coming in from the region.

And to top it all off, he noted that there is no admission fee.

All of the games are free of charge.