UNCAF U-16 competition gets underway in Belmopan
The Central American Under-sixteen Football Tournament gets underway tonight in Belmopan with an impressive line-up of inaugural matches, including the much anticipated Belize/Nicaragua face-off. That opening game will be aired on Channel Five immediately following tonight’s newscast. The Baby Jaguars, as they are affectionately known, are poised to do well in the qualifiers since a majority of the team participated in the under-fifteen tournament in the Cayman Islands during the summer. The Football Federation of Belize is hosting the regional competition which sets the stage for the 2014 Olympics. According to F.F.B. executive, Marlon Kuylen, the weeklong series are a must-see.
Marlon Kuylen, Executive Member, F.F.B.
“UNCAF hosts this tournament as a preparation for the Olympic qualifiers which will happen next year. So this year they chose Belize which we are happy to host and this team that will represent us in this tournament is the under-fifteen that went to the Cayman Islands a few months ago and did so well, you know. This team has been together for a while and we’ve been having them in camp for a few months now on weekends so we expect a lot out of them. We think that they will do good in this tournament.”
Isani Cayetano
Marlon Kuylen
“In terms of the coaching and the preparations leading up to this particular competition what can Belize expect from the Baby Jaguars?”
Marlon Kuylen
“We expect that they will do very well. The preparations, the coach, Mr. Cowo has been working with them for a while now. They’ve been together for a year and a half; however, Central America got a taste of our abilities when we were in Cayman and I don’t think they were expecting us to do that well. So now that they are here now I am sure that they will be more prepared. But hopefully we can hold our own but we’re at home so I’m hoping that the Belizean fans come out to help support the team.”
As we mentioned earlier, for the duration of the competition the games will be aired on Channel Five immediately following our nightly newscasts.
