And the man who will is leading the team as Head coach is Jorge Nunez, a native of Brazil who has been around Belizean football as a coach for over 25 years. He's has coached some of the biggest names in football, and today, he told us why he wants your support to lead the Jaguars into these World Cup qualifiers:
Jorge Nunez - Head Coach, National Team
"I played football with Juventus. I play football in Central America, I play football in my country, Brazil, professional. I have had training, I have received my certification from FIFA and I did my training in Guatemala, so I am certified to coach in any part of the world."
And as you may have noticed from our footage, Charlie Slusher is back at the FFB as the Assistant Head Coach of the National Team. Now, the last time we spoke with Slusher, which was about 2 years ago, it appeared that he and President Ruperto Vicente had major differenced of opinion about what's best for the National Team. Slusher exited on less than amiable terms, and so today, we asked both men how they were able to mend fences. Here's what they had to say:
Ruperto Vicente - President, FFB
"Football is a dynamic sports and football is played on the football field, two teams playing against each other. Similar in an administration, there are going to be differences and I have always said to you the media, that yes, there was a difficulty between the federation and Charlie Slusher, but as the President of the federation, I would never close the door on a Belizean coach, because we want that our Belizean coach be developed and take full control of our national teams. We believe that we have coaches like Charlie Slusher and other players who have played the game, have great potential in leading our national teams and I believe that I have done all my best to bring Charlie Slusher back into our camp. He is a Belizean, he plays football, he has been trained as a coach and there is no way as the president of the federation, I will allow a Belizean coach who have played football to be left outside of the federation."
Charlie Slusher - Assistant Head Coach, National Team
"Myself and Mr. Vicente, the president, we want to achieve the same goal. So, as long as our intention is to make football become successful in the country, it was easy. It wasn't a difficult thing. I want to do my best. The president want to do his best, so it wasn't a difficult decision for anyone of us to make, because we want to make Belizean football successful. And the president has always said on the media that whenever Charlie Slusher is ready to come back, he will welcome me back and it shows today that he is a man of his word."
And the National Team Coordinator is Police Minister John Saldivar, who is also the owner of the Belmopan Bandits football Team. Now, if viewers can recall, Saldivar was instrumental in ending the Bertie Chimilio regime while he was Minister of Sports. Also, a portion of the National A Selection are players from his Belmopan Bandits Football Club, so we asked today, if he has any hidden self-interests to promote while holding such an important post within the FFB. Here's how he answered that question:
Hon. John Saldivar - National Team Coordinator
"A very loaded question, but first of all, I'd like to refer back to what both president and Charlie Slusher has said, I share their view that my interest in being here is so that my country can win and if you have that as your interest, there is no place for self-interest. There is no place for personality and personal interest and I can assure the Belizean public that in conducting my functions as the national team coordinator, there are no hidden agendas with respect to the Belmopan Bandits players. As has been alluded earlier by Mr. Kuylen, we opened training in November, we took deliberate steps to inform the public and players that training was open to all and all who attended got a fair chance from the coaching staff. Got the coaching staff to see them and can be attested to by both the coaching staff and players who were at training, I have never at any time try to intervene, interfere or put any personal biases into that selection process. The coaching staff has been entirely the group that has decided on the members of the national team. If it happens that a significant amount of Bandits' players are there, is because we are the 3-peat champions and we do have the majority of good players in this country."
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