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Exciting DCC to be unveiled today in Curacao
– Warner pumped up
By Franklin Wilson in Curacao with the compliments of Digicel
Caribbean countries are bracing yet again for another exciting and explosive Digicel Caribbean Cup (DCC) Football Championship which is set to be unveiled today at the Marriott Hotel & Resorts, Curacao.
And Caribbean Football Union Boss Austin Jack Warner, who arrived on the Island yesterday, said he is very excited and elated for what is expected to be a bigger and better championship.
Speaking with Kaieteur Sport soon after his arrival yesterday, Warner said each rendition is better than the one before and this one will be no different. “What makes this one interesting is that many of the countries taking part are still in the running (qualifying) for the World Cup South Africa 2010 and therefore it is against that background that this event will serve as a good training ground for many of our countries and I feel very optimistic that we would have a lot of fun.”
Warner, who is also a FIFA Vice President and President of CONCACAF, is happy that the DCC will afford those countries that did not make it through the World Cup Qualifying at this stage will be afforded the opportunity to play at a very high and competitive level.
“After a country gets knocked out from the World Cup it crushes the country and all the player’s hopes and aspirations, what this does is give them another opportunity to play football at a high level and of course this is what is interesting.”
He noted that Guyana and the Netherlands Antilles came so close but yet so far with regard to the World Cup qualifying. Guyana was booted by Suriname 1-0 away and 2-1 at home while the Netherlands Antilles were edged out by Haiti 1-1 away and 1-0 at home.
“What it shows however, is that the level of competition between the countries is very, very close. I mean before people lost by margins like 10-1 and 6-1 and so on but now that is way much closer and this is interesting and encouraging.”
More details on the DCC which is expected to involve about 25 countries will be made known at the launch today.
Guyana enjoyed an excellent run at the last championship which was the 2nd edition. The ‘Golden Jaguars’ won both of its groups and established a perfect record of 6 wins from as many matches with wins over the Netherlands Antilles (5-0), Suriname (5-0), Grenada (1-0) in Curacao.
At home at the GCC ground the Guyanese hammered Antigua 6-0, edged Guadeloupe 3-2 and humbled the Dominican Republic 4-0.
They advanced to the 8-team finals which were hosted by Trinidad and Tobago lost their first and only match to St. Vincent & The Grenadines, defeated Guadeloupe again in an epic battle and drew with Cuba.
The loss to St. Vincent dented their hopes of advancing to the final four. Haiti came out winners by defeating Trinidad and Tobago in the final.
Jamaica, were knocked out early in the last championship but will be aiming to do much better this time around.
And lots of pressure will be on Guyana to repeat this performance and even go all the way.
This is a new competition and therefore new strategies must be put in place for the imminent battle at hand. The DCC is a Qualifier for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
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