7 News Belize

The Jaguars Return, Unbowed
posted (January 23, 2017)
The Belize Jaguars returned from the UNCAF Copa Centroamericana tournament in Panama this morning. The came home with their heads down, and that's because - just like last time - they finished dead last. The team had one draw and four losses - ending with only one point and an 8 point goal differential. Freddy Cantiliano met the team at the airport and asked some of the players and management what went wrong in Panama.

Freddy Cantiliano- Reporter
"Coach, a good beginning at the UNCAF Copa Centro Americana where you drew against the host team- something that nobody could believe when it happened. What happened from then on?"

Richard Orlowski- Head Coach
"That's why after this game, expectations from all people in Belize and all the players were too high. But the reality is that the next game we played against Costa Rica which has a very good team. Everybody knows they go to World Cup were they've played like semi-finals. We gave everything during the game against Panama and not even one day we got a break because in the night time and next two days in the morning we played against Costa Rica. The boys were not even recovered after this game. But the third, fourth and fifth game we played well even against El Salvador. Second half we dominated, we created many chances, but we didn't score. That's our weakness. We get chances we have to score because this is not practice. You get three chances you have to score three goals because it's not like you get a hundred chances to do this."

"Against Nicaragua we tied the game and in the last 6 minutes- I don't even know if that was goal because I didn't see. The last game with Honduras we played very well, that was the best team. I think that with more games we play better, so those games should be played before the Copa. If we would get more friendly games at high level we would be ready for the tournament."

Woodrow West- Goalkeeper
"Like I posted on my fan page we can't be discouraged by the results because I really believe we had the best team this tournament. We did it on the first game. We made a draw which gave us one point. We just needed one win and we would have qualified. I respect my coaches; I have to respect their decision. But I think we could he done much better with the rotation of players for certain games. Between the Costa Rica and Salvador games is where we lost the players 'cause we didn't have enough legs against Nicaragua. The Nicaragua game was an important game for us but we didn't have the players at 100% for that game."

"Like I said, Nicaragua came out strong this tournament. They really had a better team this year. To me personally the rotation of players; we should have sacrificed one of those games between Costa Rica or El Salvador to save our players for the Nicaragua game, which we knew meant a greater opportunity to qualify to the Gold Cup. So, I think we made that mistake and as a result we didn't have the players a 100% against Nicaragua. We had guys that were catching cramps and guys that couldn't finish the first half. So that's where we made the mistake, I think."

Marlon Kuylen- President, FFB
"Well, when you have a group of teachers, police men, soldiers, office workers playing semi-professional league and going up against professionals- and these are countries that are vying for spots in the world cup right now- it's very difficult. However, the preparation and knowing the players we have, gave us high expectation- especially after the Panama match. Now, I know that a lot of the citizens weren't happy with the way we played in that match, but we earned a point. Goals win games but points win qualify you. Everybody was impressed with the way we played. I must say, we had a lot of people- the presidents from the other countries, coaches- telling us "You really, really impressed us, you surprised us by the way you played."

"Our problem, I think, is twofold. One is the format of the tournament. We played the first three matches in the first five days and five matches in ten days. The recovery period was just not sufficient for us. Secondly, knowing that Nicaragua and Salvador were the two teams we matched up best against, we should have rotated the players in the Panama and the Costa Rica matches, to give us of our better players or the fist-11 players a chance to rest. Because by the time we got to those games we just ran out of legs. They were just too tired."

And while the team did not do so well this time, the coach and the FFB president say that the future still looks bright. They told us what's next for the national team..

Richard Orlowski- Head Coach
"This tournament I check all players and now I know how they play, because if you see them on Belize league, its different level international. So it's like a big difference. Speed of play is different, everything is different, so what they needed, they needed more friendly games and we have to work harder and we got to close the game, but right now I got some players on the games, some players back to the club. It was semi-final league, so it was a little bit not perfect. Next time it's going to be a little bit different and we are going to get better score."

Marlon Kuylen, President - FFB
"From this new executive took over, we knew that to get to the levels that we need to get to, we have to target the youths and therefore next month we will be starting our U-15 tournaments countrywide, because we need to form a selection to go to Orlando in August. The U-17 we will be starting up another tournament for them to keep them together and we need as well bring into camp and keep that national team going."

"I had a meeting yesterday with a guy from Costa Rica. We started this discussion with this company from November when the U-17 was up there and the idea is that we will try to get as many of our youths, our better players to go to US colleges on football scholarships. So the more players we can get to go abroad to play and to get into these programs, the better it will be for Belize, because when they come back and they come to the national team, they will be much better players."

On the upside, the national team played well against the tournament champion Honduras in the final game; they lost that game one to nil.

The top four teams in the tournament will advance to the Gold Cup tournament and will compete for a spot in the 2018 World Cup.

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