From CIFA

Organisers for the inaugural CONCACAF Girls’ U-15 Championship have scheduled the home team games for the Truman Bodden Sports Complex as they expect large crowds to support the local team.

Cayman contests Group A with Curacao, Bahamas and the British Virgin Islands in the 16-team tournament.

Last year, the Boys’ Under 15 National Team drew sellout crowds in the first ever U-15 tournament of its kind in the region. Chairwoman of the Local Organising Committee, Sharon Roulstone, expects similar numbers this year.

“It is a privilege for CONCACAF to have chosen Cayman as host of this inaugural tournament and I hope therefore it is well attended, with our unique brand of Caymanian hospitality being the best thing the 15 visiting teams take back home with them.”

“Cayman’s own U-15 girls are training hard and with this being the first international tournament for most of them, they need our support and encouragement. School is out for summer and admission to the games is free, so there’s no excuse not to come out over the next couple of weeks and show our support to CONCACAF, to our Cayman U-15 girls and to our visitors,” Ms. Roulstone added.

Cayman opens the competition against British Virgin Islands on Wednesday August 6 at 7:30 pm. Matches will be contested at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex, T.E Mcfield Sports Centre (The Annex), Ed Bush Sports Centre and in Cayman Brac.

Matches will be 70 minutes (35 minutes per half) in length, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the quarterfinals.

Groups

Group A: Cayman Islands, Curacao, Bahamas, British Virgin Islands

Group B: Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Bermuda

Group C: Jamaica, Costa Rica, Anguilla, Belize

Group D: Canada, Haiti, Cuba, Puerto Rico

Related story:

Cayman tops Curacao in CFU U-20 but falls to St Kitts

Suberan scores, but Cayman falls to St Kitts

From CIFA

Willemstad, Curacao – Captain Matthew Suberan found the back of the nets but the Cayman Islands National U-20 Team lost heavily to St. Kitts and Nevis 5-1 on Friday at the Erigilio Hato Stadium.

Suberan found the mark in the 70th minute, but the damage had already been done by clinical finishing by the St Kitts and Nevis side.

Adding to their 7-0 drubbing of Anguilla on Wednesday, the kittians opened the scoring in the 15th minute with Evansroy Barnes.

Zajah Isaac (28th), Vinceroy Nelson (60th), Raheem Francis (83rd) and Tijuan Isaac completed the victory for the Sugar Boys.

St Kitts vaulted to the top of the standings with six points and have scored 12 goals in their opening two fixtures.

In the night’s other fixture, home team Curacao recovered from their defeat to Cayman and defeated Anguilla 9-0.

Cayman tops Curacao

IMAGE: Action from the CFU under-20 qualifier between the Cayman Islands and host Curacao (white jersey) on July 30, 2014, at the Stadion Ergilio Hato in Willemstad. (Photo courtesy of the Federashon Futbol Korsou)

WILLEMSTAD, Curacao – Martin Webb scored in the first minute of first-half stoppage time to lift the Cayman Islands to a 1-0 win over host Curacao as first round play in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Men’s Under-20 qualifying tournament resumed on Wednesday.

A crowd of more than 2,000 fans at the Stadion Ergilio Hato also watched St. Kitts & Nevis outdistance Anguilla 7-0 in the first match of a Group 5 doubleheader. Tijhaun Isaac and Vinceroy Nelson each netted twice in a winning effort.

The quartet is vying for a berth in the final round, which Trinidad & Tobago will host September 12-19, 2014. At that event, the region’s representatives for the 2015 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship in Jamaica event will be determined.

The next FIFA U-20 World Cup will be held in New Zealand, May 30-June 20, 2015.

2014 CARIBBEAN FOOTBALL UNION UNDER-20 QUALIFYING

June 25 – September 19, 2014

GROUP 5 (at Willemstad, Curacao – Stadion Ergilio Hato)

Results

Wednesday – July 30, 2014

Anguilla 0, St. Kitts & Nevis 7

Goals: Tijhaun Isaac 3’, 62’; Yusuf Saunders 12’; Vinceroy Nelson 23’ pen, 47’ pen; Carlos Bertie 61’; Tahir Hanley 77’

Curacao 0, Cayman Islands 1

Goals: Martin Webb 45’+1

Related story:

Flores pleased with Cayman U15 girls’ progress

IMAGE: Ruben Flores (pictured) will coach the Cayman Islands in the first-ever CONCACAF Under-15 Girls’ Championship.

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands — Competing well in the inaugural CONCACAF Under-15 Girls’ Championship is Ruben Flores’ first goal, but the Cayman Islands head coach also has his eye on development.

Flores is excited by the team’s preparations for the tournament, which Cayman will host, August 6-17, 2014.

“We are trying to build a culture and a program where the little girls see a future,” he said. “Playing, studying or as coaches – see how hard these girls are working to be a good group and represent this country proudly.”

Flores, who earned national “A” coaches licenses in Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United States, is busy structuring his squad for the rigors of Group A encounters against the British Virgin Islands (August 6), the Bahamas (August 8) and Curacao (August 10).

“They are getting much better,” Flores assured. “They will be a very organized team.”

When asked what he hoped to convey to his players, Flores responded, “Pride for their country, representing it the best way possible, and also a good technical base to succeed in the near future. This group is starting to understand the opportunity they have and step by step change what needs to changed.”

Winning the tournament, though desired, is not the manager’s only ambition.

“Yes, I would love to win it, but more than that, I think the magic word is development,” Flores expressed. “There is nothing I would like to have more than these girls playing a CONCACAF qualifier for a World Cup or playing for a big school and advancing their studies.”