Technical director of the Barbados Football Association (BFA), Ahmed Mohamed, doesn’t think the late Premier League start will have an impact on the men’s national team.
While the remainder of the BFA’s domestic season will begin in earnest next week, following Sunday’s opening ceremony and parade of teams at the Usain Bolt Sports Complex, the start of the Premier League has been delayed until March 11 because of work at the Wildey AstroTurf.
“I don’t think there is really an impact because all our national programmes train weekly, and because they are two different things. The pre-season starts on January 21st and there is enough time to prepare the national team for March. We have three months to prepare,” he told MIDWEEEK SPORT.
Mohammed said that with this year’s scheduled tournaments, they were working to have the teams ready and were hoping to qualify for all of them early in the competition.
“Our main goal is to qualify for every tournament or competition in at least the second round,” he said.
The women’s senior team will start their competition when they take on Martinique on home soil on the January 27, while the men’s competition against Canada is still to be confirmed.
The females will later face St Kitts and Nevis on March 25, while the men play Bermuda before the women compete for a spot at the FIFA World Cup at the qualifiers slated for the beginning of May.
However, he was unable to give any information on the men’s seniors because he was unaware of the group and zone they would be a part of.
The Under-20 and Under-17 boys are also expected to have their competition, but that date has not yet been confirmed. The CONCACAF League Of Nations is scheduled to kick off in September. (RG)
