DCC set to kick off July 27 in Curacao

Jul 06, 2008 Sports

Haiti are the defending champs

By Franklin Wilson
The Digicel Caribbean Cup (DCC) 2008 – 2009, the 3rd tournament in its history is set to kick off in the Capital of the Netherlands Antilles, Curacao on July 27 with group ‘A’ rivalry between the hosts, Grenada and St. Lucia.

The last championship also kicked off at the same venue in September of 2006 where the ‘Golden Jaguars’ Guyana’s flagship team swept the group after inflicting 5-0 defeats on the host and Suriname and were 1-0 winners over Grenada.

The last championship ended in February 2007 in Trinidad and Tobago where Haiti emerged as champions but will find the going tough to retain their title this time around.

Last June, Digicel renewed its partnership with the CFU to remain as title sponsors of the Digicel Caribbean Cup for the next four years covering the 2008-09 and 2010-11 tournaments.

A total of 25 teams competed in the last championship which saw eight countries clashing in the final round in the Twin Island Republic. ‘Golden Jaguars’ Nigel Codrington ended as the tournaments leading goal scorer (11) and will be aiming for a repeat performance.

Guyana will again be facing old time nemesis Suriname in group ‘B’ action here from August 4 – 11 at a venue to be announced, Aruba being the other country battling for the two available places at stake for the next round.

The Guyanese were sent packing from the FIFA World Cup Qualifying campaign after drawing a bye to the 2nd round while Suriname had to qualify from the first round.

This match-up will be seen as a grudge match between two countries with a long history of battle on the field, Suriname enjoying the better of the exchanges to date.

Another exciting regional tournament is in the making and fans are already making plans to be at the respective host venues to back their favorite teams.

Digicel initiated sponsorship of the DCC in 2004 and, with an increased investment from the sponsors in 2006, the Digicel Caribbean Cup 2006-07 represented the largest ever football tournament held in the region.

Digicel’s injection of funds was used to revamp the tournament format resulting in a competition featuring 25 playing in 69 matches in 10 countries, more than ever before.

Match day attendances for the last tournament averaged a healthy 5,500, a TV audience of 320 million worldwide enjoyed the action with Fox Soccer Channel broadcasting over 50 half-hour highlights programmes and Setanta Sports brining the semi-finals and Haiti’s final success live to millions.

Digicel (Guyana) Marketing Director Donovan White said he is looking forward to another exciting DCC where more talent from the region will come to the fore.

The Caribbean Cup is a Qualifier for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

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DCC set to kick off July 27 in Curacao

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