Tomorrow evening at 5:30 in San Jose, Costa Rica, the Belize National Football Team will play in the Copa Centro Americana semi-finals against Honduras. The stakes are high - and so is the sense of anticipation, as the entire nation waits to see if Belize can shock the world.
But, carrying the weight of the dreams of an entire country on your shoulders isn't easy and so we wondered about the team's preparation process for tomorrow's game. Assistant coach, Charlie Slusher told 7News via phone this evening, that the players have been trying to unwind and rest up.
But, they are not as tense as you might think.
He, along with several other players, explained that now that the pressure of qualifying is off them, they will play tomorrow's came with comfort and confidence, enjoying it instead of constantly being on edge:..
Charles Slusher, Assistant Coach, National Team
"Yesterday we took a day off and we took the team for an outing to visit the volcanoes in Costa Rica. Today we forget about all the
celebration or whatever and we start dreaming again because at the end of the day we are thinking if there is a possibility that we can win this tournament then we go all out for that to happen. We went to train this morning, we are doing recovery getting the muscles ready for the game tomorrow. We know the entire country was behind us and it's kind of inspire the guys to want to do better and better and I know that the team would have never done it if the country of Belize was not behind us and we are very happy and thankful that the country was supporting the team all the way. Belizeans not just in Belize but all over the world, on Facebook and all the news - everybody was behind the team and the players knew that and it really inspired them. We are hoping that now since the weight - a big weight have been taken off the backs of the players because coming and the pressure of trying to qualify for the gold cup was the real deal and since we have accomplished that now the guys can play more freely, they can play the way they used to play, the way they can play because we still believe the team that is out there can do much better."
Trevor Lennon, Forward
"It's not every time that it will be your best game. The first game I didn't play that well, but they still had faith in me and I came back and I think the other games I played good because it's not a position that I usually play of defense - they put me in a position that they believe I can do well. I just believed in myself that I can do it too and I did it."
Elroy Smith, Defense
"It's all about being focus, talking to one another. The communication was a really important there because you really have to talk for your partner to know who is behind him and how he is supposed to move and stuff like that. The communication is what helps us because it makes it easier for us play."
Woodrow West, Goalkeeper
"Compare to Belmopan Bandits and out here is 2 different level and yes you feel that pressured because you know you want to qualify. It was kind of hard but we knew that we could do it."
The game starts at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow. It will air live on channel 7 followed by a late news at 7:30.
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