Are Barbados ready for their upcoming World Cup football qualifying campaign?
Football fans will get an idea tonight when the national senior team face fellow Caribbean side St Lucia at the National Stadium from 7 p.m. on what is expected to be a slippery surface following yesterday’s steady rain.
And there can be no excuses as the local team is almost back to full strength with the return of former captain Norman Forde.
This friendly will be the sixth tune-up game for Barbados this year but the first since May when the team hosted Guyana, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Bradley University from the United States.
Barbados’ results this year have not been very good with the new-look side losing both friendly matches on their tour of Guyana (2-1 and 3-2). They then drew with Guyana (1-1) and St Vincent (0-0) and lost 2-0 to Bradley while slipping to 145th in the world rankings.
This position is below teams such as Guyana (114), Haiti (117), Grenada (120), St Kitts-Nevis (122) and Dominica (133), who had also beaten Barbados twice in their own backyard last year in friendlies.
St Lucia, now ranked 183rd in the world, like Barbados are going through a transition but have named their best available squad.
New Barbados captain Barry Skeete will marshal the defence which will have a blend of youth and experience following the retirement from national duty of John “Nobby” Parris and the non-selection of Bryan Neblett.
Whereas the seasoned Omar Archer will suit up on the right side of defence, coach Colin “Potato” Forde has the option of starting the promising Jason Lovell or experienced Jonathan Straker alongside Skeete in the centre of defence. Another teenager, Ricardio Morris, is expected to be among the substitutes.
There will be a few options for Forde at the left wing back position, with both Carl Joseph and Ramuel Miller capable of playing there or on the left side of midfield.
Whatever combination is used, the Barbados defence will have to pay close attention to striker Jamil Joseph.
After St Lucia were beaten 4-2 by Aruba in the first leg of their World Cup first-round qualifying tie, Joseph scored a hat-trick to lead them to a 4-2 win in the second. In the resulting penalty shoot-out, St Lucia emerged 5-4 winners to advance.
Kurt Frederick also scored for the St Lucians and he will have to play a big role if his team is to upset Barbados.
Norman Forde, Jeffrey Williams and Renaldo Marquez are almost certain to be the midfield trio, but room may also be found for Youth Milan’s Dwayne “Boot” Griffith, depending on whether the coach uses a 3-5-2, 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 formation.
Mario Harte and Riviere Williams should begin up front, with Jamal Chandler and 2010 Player Of The Year Kyle Gibson coming off the bench.
Jason “Barbers” Boxhill is likely to continue his starting role in goal despite the recall of the experienced Adrian Chase, who was the best goalkeeper on show during the last football season.