As we told you earlier on in the news, this afternoon, the Belize National Football Team defeated Guatemala's Heredia Jaguares de Peten, a team that's currently second in that country's Professional League.
Belize's side dominated them easily – even in the hostile territory of Melchor De Menchos. New head coach, American Ian Mork explained to us that he used the game as an opportunity to field the team he intends to play in at Gold Cup in the US in July:..
Ian Mork - Headcoach, Belize National Team
"Well when I first joined the National Team as their Head Coach was in 2008 to coach in the world cup qualifying games in Mexico. I've just now come back in April on a part-time basis at first and now I'll be here all the way through the Gold Cup so I just got here last week but I had already been here two times previously. They've asked me to come in here for the Gold Cup, I actually asked for a long term contract but that's hard for them to commit to right now so I'm willing to help as much as I can and pass on what I've learned throughout the years. I know this group very well, some of the guys that I've coached when they were U-17 and a lot of this group is U-21. We beat El Salvador 2-0 in Dangriga in those Central American games so I'm very familiar with the players and I'd like to spend even more time with them. What we're talking about is becoming more of a power house team inside of CONCACAF and UNCAF especially and that takes a lot of years, that doesn't just happen from one qualification to the gold cup - that's going to take a lot of time. I'd really like to have more influence in all the national teams in the future and if I'm not there I'd like them to set a structure in place where if another coach comes in then another structure is there. I feel like we're starting over every time that I come in. Athletically these guys are pretty impressive - they are outstanding as far as their agility and their speed and strength. They are very powerful players, we have some technical players and the inside is tactically the are that we need to improve a lot. If you've seen the game today you've seen the way they play, they have picked up a lot of the concepts they need at that higher level, that's very important. I see them coming along and improving constantly and the last coaching job did a heck of a job really getting these guys to this level. It's a good team and a good team spirit and you could see where they are really hungry to reach a higher level."
Tomorrow, we'll have a full report on the game…
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