And so while Okeke can't stir the public to move for nationalist pride, the New Belize National Team is doing quite well to rebuild nationalist support for Football in Belize.
On Friday night, they played the host country in their first game of the Copa Centroamericana. It was a game before five thousand, five-hundred Costa Ricans cheering for their "Ticos" - and to the credit of the Belize side - Costa Rica only managed to score one goal against Belize.
The hero of that match and Sunday's game against Guatemala was BDF Goalkeeper Woodrow West.?
Belize held Guatemala to a nil-nil draw, earning Belize its first point of the tournament.
We spoke to him via telephone in Costa Rica this evening, and he told us that he is proud of their performance so far:
Woodrow West
"To step up to that level and play a different level of football for Belize. We knew we had the talent to compete against these guys and we were determine that we show and gain respect here in Costa Rica. Costa Rica is a very good team and it was a hard game but we stand up strong especially defensive wise and we prove to them that we can stand up against them. So far we had a game yesterday with Guatemala and we did the same thing - it was a little bit of offence. On the other part of the defensive side we didn't score so we didn't let them score either, we are really competing at this moment. It's going to be hard but we just keep focus to get there."
"The mistake was my fault because the coach told me not to play the ball from the back and I got a little side kicking the ball and we had a crumble with the ball and that what leads to the goal. I couldn't do anything about the shot any at all. Yesterday was one of my best game ever and I am very proud of myself and I have to give my defense kudos too because they really help me."
Charles Slusher
"I think we are very happy with the results so far. We know that our team can do much better and we are hoping that our final game tomorrow will happen. We cannot really complain or be hard on the guys; all the games we are fighting and all the games we are working hard not just for the team but for the country of Belize. We are proud of them."
"We believe that offensive wise the team is not performing to their ability. We cannot just think about going all offensive and forget about our goal to defend and we are hoping that once the defensive is there we can counter attack and we can score but we really want to see the team play a little bit more offensive but we don't want to forget the defensive role and trade defense for offence because that can be very deadly for us. It's the first time that I have seen a set of player being at the club level so united and those are great factors that can help us over the hurdle for the next game."
Belize plays Nicaragua tomorrow at 4 p.m., and Channel 7 will be broadcasting it live. A win qualifies Belize for the next round, which would be a first.
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