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by pltm
(PLTM) - The Under-17 boy’s National Football team was announced during a press conference yesterday August 23, ahead of the CONCACAF qualifier games to be played in Tampa, Florida in September. If successful at the end of the qualifiers, the team will compete in the biennial CONCACAF Championship in 2023 from February 11 – February 26 in Guatemala.
The BVI team is scheduled to compete against Bonaire on September 1 Bahamas on September 3, Guyana on September 5, and Saint Martin on September 7.
The captain of the team Jadon Abrams indicated that following the success of the U-14 boys’ team in the Caribbean Football Union U-14 Challenge, he is confident that his team will also perform well.
The members of the U-17 team asserted that they have developed a strong bond with each other, after playing for several years as a team, and anticipate that their close relationship will prove advantageous during the upcoming matches.
The team A squad includes Captain Jadon Abrams, goalkeepers Oliver Henderson and Devon Letteen, and defenders Sean Samuel, T’Khoi Morton, Orrett Kennedy, Jefferson Frank, and Curtis Lane.
Nathaniel Williams, Rush Broderick, Johari Lacey, Azarni Callwood, Dylan Cline, Kyran Samadi, and Sebastian Santos make up the team’s midfielders, while Emmanuel Etienn, Joel Mars, Samuel Gilford, Jaden Abrams, and Johnny Jay Rowe are strikers.
The staff includes head coach Jermain Abrams, assistant coach Chris Kiwomya, Richie Morton the Equipment Manager, Morris Mark the goalkeeper coach, Chester James the Physiotherapist, and Humphry Leue, the team’s manager.
During the press conference, President of the BVI Football Association (BVIFA) Andrew Bickerton explained that although the organization is provided with sponsorship from FIFA and CONCACAF, difficulties with finances are still persistent. Funding is essential for the various squads to compete – especially the cost of international travel.
He noted that schools’ league has been sponsored by BDO since 2012.
However, Bickerton said, “We then have to struggle within our budget to do everything that we want to do … we have to look for sponsors in our other competitions – which is difficult because we suffered from the hurricanes in 2017 and we had the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 and businesses here are struggling to recover from that. It is difficult in terms of funding ,but as I say our emphasis in the past has been on putting a good bit of funding to the youth programmes which we are now benefitting from.”
