Meet the Lady Jaguars

Belize’s participation in the international football scene has been virtually absent since the Jaguars represented the Jewel in 2013 in a rather insipid debut at the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament.  While their introduction to a higher level of football has left a lot to be desired, the Football Federation of Belize is fielding the Lady Jaguars, a women’s national team which will participate in a series of future international games.  This afternoon, at the headquarters in Belmopan, the national selection which will take part in the upcoming UNCAF female tournament in Guatemala was officially introduced to the media by F.F.B. President Ruperto Vicente.

Ruperto Vicente, President, Football Federation of Belize

Ruperto Vicente

“It is important for our Lady Jaguars to win this tournament in Guatemala in order to move on to the eliminations in the United States in the month of July.  [These are] qualifying matches for the Women’s World Cup which is going to be held in Canada in 2015.  So we are looking forward to a successful participation, keeping in mind that our football players, our national teams, it’s no longer about just participating in a tournament but we’re all about winning at this tournament.  We’ve got to cement in our minds that we are about winning and at this new federation we are focused not just on participating but on winning.  So this evening we are presenting our female national team to the nation, the team that is going to represent this nation in the tournament, keeping in mind that this is no longer about the Football Federation of Belize.  This is about our nation of Belize, so we need to understand that this national team is going to do battle on behalf of Belize and so I encourage the coaches, I have Mr. Kent Gabourel who is our head coach and then we have our national team manager Mrs. Carol Palma and then our head of delegation Mr. David Griffith and our General Secretary Mr. Michael Blease.  These are the people who are going to be leading our national team as we travel to Guatemala.  So we’re excited about this team, we believe in this team and we believe that this is one of the best teams that this federation has put together.  This team, for the most part, comprises of our U-twenty national team that participated in Honduras.”