Footballers prepare for international meet
James Adderley
Good evening I’m James Adderley and this is Sports Monday. As athletes across this nation prepare to participate in the 2001 Central American Games scheduled to open on November twenty-third at Guatemala, we took our cameras to the friendly match-up between the National Under-21 Football Team, headed for the games and Lazio of Orange Walk, headed for semi-pro action on October twenty-eighth.
So we go to Saturday night at the Peoples Stadium O.W. where the National Team is trying to rebound from Thursday night’s 1-zip loss to the Belmopan Bandits. It’s veteran Luis “Chino” Briceño trying to school the youngsters very early with this spotkick from long range, but it doesn’t quite have the impact.
On this press, Lazio should open the scoreboard, but the defensive skills of goalkeeper Shane Moody takes care of that scoring opportunity.
Next up is Oliver Hendrix, who does everything right except get the pill past Shane Moody. The National Team finally gets something going, when Kenny Chee fires this left foot that lifts over the Lazio keeper head for the 1-zip lead.
Some twenty minutes later Chino Briceño gets set for the conversion and he delivers to force the 1-1 tie. The goal is deemed offside by the National Football Team side, whose protestation could indicate a lack of discipline in the camp. At the Central American Games, it will be demanded that Belize play to whistle.
Meanwhile, the National Team should have taken a 2-1 lead off this spotkick, but poor execution and even poorer referencing negated this opportunity for the 1-1 score at the half.
Out of the break, Lazio goes to Briceño for the lead, but after two tries, Moody manages to get a handle. Off this centre, Oliver Hendrix launches this vicious header that brings about the dreaded auto goal and Lazio leads 2-1 just like that.
It’s all Lazio now as Briceño fires this left foot in the far upright, but it only creates excitement. At the other end, Deon Flowers outreaches the defence, but simply can’t come up with the conversion.
Who does convert is Briceño. For his second of the ballgame as he makes maximum use of this fumble by Shane Moody. Maybe Vallan Simms could teach Shane Moody about being focussed as he does save the National Team from a 3-goal deficit.
In the closing moments, the National Team does pull one back with this magnificent one man by Tyrone Muschamp that ends up in the back of the net. But the long whistle brings a 3-2 final score. They lose two in a row, but Belizeans is the team ready for the Central American Games? If they’re not, they still got a month to go.
In the meantime, we want to shift our focus to basketball. We understand they are making moves to get the national team ready, and yes we are gonna keep you on top of things. We want to tell you that the semi-pro football season is slated to open on October twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth with a nine-man season. That’s it for now, thanks to our cameramen for their great work over the weekend, Jah over all, I’m James Adderley.
