BARBADOS’ two-game losing start to the 2014 World Cup football qualifying campaign has been attributed to lack of foreign firepower.
Team manager Frank Gill believes the absence of key defender Emmerson Boyce, who captains Wigan Athletic in the English Premier League, and other overseas footballers like Paul Ifill and Mark McCammon, has hampered the team’s chances of progressing from CONCACAF’s Group B.
The group also includes Bermuda and Guyana, who defeated Barbados 2-0 in their first match last Friday.
“We have a fairly young team and they are well disciplined off and on the field, so it is really a learning process for most of these youngsters,” said Gill.
The manager was speaking after the Bajan Tridents suffered their second successive defeat, going under 0-2 to Trinidad and Tobago at the National Stadium on Tuesday.
“One has to look at the composition of the team. Unfortunately for us, we have not been able to get the type of players that we will want out of England or North America,” Gill lamented.
“We have been trying to get Emmerson Boyce out of England.
He is an outstanding Barbadian player and we experienced so much problems at the level of immigration trying to get his passport for him.
“We also could’ve gotten McCammon. That’s another high-ranking English player who is Barbadian and we have not been able to do it,” the manager added.
“Obviously, it has set us back, but not withstanding that, I thought that in both games we played, although we were beaten two goals to nil – don’t think we were humiliated in any sense.
“It would’ve had a great impression on the youngsters, but we are trying to see if we can source two or three players who are really recognised players in the wider world.”
With Craig Worrell injured, Barbados fielded just two overseas-based players: young striker Louis Moss, who was used in midfield, and Dagenham and Redbridge’s utility player Jonathan Nurse.
“I wouldn’t want to say that has really been against us but obviously it would’ve been a plus if we were able to get these persons to play,” added Gill.
Barbados’ next game is against Guyana at Kensington Oval on October 7.
