The unsucessful Barbados Under-17 football team in the recent Concacaf tournament should be treated better.
That was the suggestion from international football consultant Jerome Champagne, as he spoke to sports administrators, athletes, and enthusiasts in observance of World Olympic Day at the Wildey Gymnasium of the Garfield Sobers Complex Thursday night.
Striking a theme of world football at the crossroads, Champagne, who up to two years ago served as an advisor to FIFA president Sepp Blatter, cited several examples of the game going down the wrong road internationally, and brought it home by querying the fate of Barbados’ latest national squad to display talent.
“Look at your Under-17 team . . . these kids who represented your country in Panama are disbanded,” he said in a lecture on?Globalization Of Sports, The Football Experience.
“Your Under-17 [team] qualified for the Concacaf tournament. These players should not be disbanded. You have good talent. Don’t let those players out on the streets. Keep them together, find clubs, find ways for them to develop.
“If they went to the Concacaf final tournament in Under-17, it means that you have talent.”
Barbados was one of three English-speaking Caribbean nations to qualify for the semi-finals but went out after drawing with Jamaica and losing to Panama in April.
Winners of the tournament, Mexico, along with the second, third and fourth-placed teams, will play in the FIFA U-17 World Cup to be held in the United Arab Emirates in November.
Though several football officials attended the Olympic Day lecture, they offered no responses to Champagne’s enquiries about the Barbados youngsters who carried the nation’s hopes of participating in a football World Cup to within two qualifying rounds. (GA)