Alpha battle River Plate on April 15 & 17 in CFU 2nd round

Apr 08, 2011 Sports

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Government provide $2M to help cost of hosting says Lumumba

By Sean Devers
Guyana’s two times defending Super League Champions Alpha United Football club will battle Puerto Rico’s Champions River Plate in the second round of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Championship at the Guyana National Stadium next Friday from 20:00hrs under lights and Alpha President Odinga Lumumba says his team is ready for their opening game.
Alpha, who also won the last Kashif and Shanghi tournament after losing to Western Tigers in the Final of the previous tournament, advanced to the second round after Antiguan club Bassa Sports provided a first round walk over after financial constraints forced their withdrawal.
Alpha will again face the Puerto Rican side next Sunday from 15:00hrs at Bourda after River Plate agreed to forfeit their home advantage for their return game.
River Plate advanced to the second round despite also giving up home advantage in the first leg against Bodden Town as the Cayman Islands club hosted both legs.
Puerto Rico Islanders, who became the first team from outside Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica to win the competition last year, is the other Puerto Rico team in the competition, while Super League runners-up Milerock of Linden, who got past Surinamese club champions Inter Moengotapoe in their first round clash, is the other Guyanese club in the competition.
Speaking to the Media at the Water Christ Hotel, Lumumba explained that with the high cost of air travel, meals and accommodation and the issue of acquiring visas for the players to travel, it was less costly for Alpha to host the visiting side, which is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday.
It was River Plate who knocked Alpha out of the tournament last year when the club from the Spanish Speaking United States controlled Caribbean Island, held the South Americans to a 1-1 draw in what was a must-win match for the Guyanese.
But yesterday an upbeat Lumumba said his team has learned from last year’s experience and is a much better and improved side.
“We played River Plate last year and this is our third year in the competition. We expect a tough championship but we are ready…we have been training and practicing every day and everyone is in top condition,” Lumumba explained.
Lumumba, a prominent Politician and former Boxing promoter, said that due to his team’s consistent training schedule since capturing the Kashif and Shanghi title on New Year’s day, the players are in peak fitness and don’t need to intensify preparations.
“We have been working hard all the time so we just have to continue doing this and work on a few weak areas. We don’t need to do anything different since as a top football team you should always be putting in the hard work and not just wait for when you are in big competitions to do so,” Lumumba said. He added that a few practice matches have been organized with Alpha set to play GDF on Monday.
Lumumba said that while it would be far cheaper to host the visitors for both games instead of traveling to Puerto Rico, the cost to host is still seven million dollars.
“We are working on covering the cost to host the matches and we have already received two million from the President and Government of Guyana and we are confident of success this year.”
While preparations are going well the Alpha President, who was accompanied at yesterday’s Press by Alpha official Steve Ninvalle, lamented that he is not sure what uniform his team will be playing with since they are yet to receive the new kit promised by the Kashif and Shanghi Organization for winning the last K&S title.
“We have not gotten anything from Kashif and Shanghi as yet, although it is now over three months since the final was played. They said we would get our gear within 60 days and then they said 75 days….we are still waiting since we don’t want to make problems but they have not responded to two letters we sent them on the matter. We can’t seem to find out much the American Company (Plus 1) which we were told manufactures the gear,” Lumumba noted.
He said it seems as if Plus I is a phantom Company and hinted that a Private Investigator in the USA could be hired to try and track down the company. He also said that if he has to purchase uniforms for the CFU club matches he would be disappointed, adding that legal action will be taken against the Kashif and Shanghi Organization for not honoring their commitment to his team.
Pele had also raised concerns over the non-receipt of the gear, which is part of the prize fro the top finishers in the K&S tournament.  According to Pele President Cecil Jacques in a recent phone interview, they have made efforts to contact the kit sponsor and those have proved futile.
They are also in limbo as to when they will get their gear. The GFF has been asked to intervene.
Meanwhile, the top four finalists from the CFU club competition will advance to CONCACAF leg of the competition before the top teams advance to the actual World Club Championships. Both of the Guyanese teams last year (Alpha and GDF) failed to get past the first round.

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