CONCACAF President Hails Success Of U/15s
During a press conference held Thursday [Aug 22] at the CI Government Administration Building in Grand Cayman, the inaugural CONCACAF Under-15 Championship was hailed as a sensation by CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb.
Webb, along with the head coaches of the semifinalists – Andrew Bascome [Bermuda], Victor Manuel Pacheco [El Salvador], Carlos Tabora [Honduras] and Juan Manuel Funes [Guatemala] — spoke of the competition’s role in supporting and developing youth footballers.
“The tournament for us is vital for development, this new CONCACAF, having the belief that to spur growth, to inspire new generations, we must give them opportunities,” said Mr Webb. “And we believe we have given the kids the opportunity by starting to prepare them well.
“Not only are we preparing the kids on the field but this morning we launched our coaching D license course. We have 40 coaches here from around the region, US, Canada and so forth, who are participating in the coaching qualification D license.
“Everything we do is geared on us improving and evolving and geared ultimately to better football on the field and ultimately winning the world championship.”
Cayman Islands Honorable Premier Alden McLaughlin also said the tournament has netted the country a boost economically in what is normally a slow period in its tourism season.
“All indications are that this tournament has been extraordinarily well organized and all those visiting for the purpose of watching the games think Cayman is a wonderful place,” expressed Mr McLaughlin. “So far it has been a wonderfully successful event and I want to thank Jeff for all the efforts he has made to make sure this has happened.”
Bermuda progressed through the group stages of the tournament after going through Group A undefeated beating the Cayman Islands 3-0, Aruba 3-1, the Bahamas 1-0, the US Virgin Islands 8-0 and St Maarten 5-0 en-route to the semis.
Bermuda lost to Guatemala in the semi finals on Friday and will face El Salvador in the 3rd place game at 7pm Bermuda time on Sunday [Aug 25].
