The unmistakable streak of Noah ‘Lucky’ Nicolas’ peroxide blonde hair - eye catching under the floodlights - flashes into the penalty box only to come to a shuddering halt as the Cuban defender scythes down the Saint Lucian forward. It is the 84th minute at the Ergilio Hato Stadium in Curacao, the final Group B game with Cuba leading Saint Lucia 1-0 in the Under 20’s World Cup qualifying tournament. Inexplicably the referee’s whistle is not accompanied with the anticipated point to the penalty spot, instead the official indicates a free kick on the far edge of the box. Surely the opportunity of earning a deserved point is missed?
If nothing else this group never knows when to give up. Cassius ‘Messi’ Joseph’s pinpoint perfect free kick is met by Keeroy Lionel who - hanging in the air for what seemed an age - heads the ball into the left corner of the goal, ricocheting off a Cuban player scrambling to clear his line. Over the final minutes of the game the Saint Lucian players defend heroically and are even unlucky not to snatch a winner. The final whistle has them celebrating the draw. Alvin Xavier, Saint Lucia’s Assistant Coach, emerges from the tunnel afterwards, a mischievous glint in his eye, “Those Cuban players...they’re all crying in the dressing room!”
So let’s put all this in perspective. Cuba needed to win by three goals to qualify for the next round. In addition, this was the first time a Saint Lucia football team had reached this stage of the tournament, a stage to which Jamaica failed to qualify. When the draw was made in July it was widely considered the ‘Group of Death’ with Saint Lucia facing such heavyweights as Haiti (population 10 million) with its fully resourced residential academy system, funded by France to help mitigate the social impact of the natural disasters. Then there was Cuba (11 million) with its state-sponsored elite player programme. And Trinidad & Tobago (1.2 million) benefitting from the historic patronage of Austin ‘Jack’ Warner, its professional league and windfalls from transfers of players like Dwight York and Stern John.
So where does Saint Lucian football go from here? Speaking with technical directors at the Curacao tournament, most share the view that getting players into the major football leagues around the world is their ultimate goal. Should they be able to attain those heights, young Saint Lucian footballers would be able to extend their ambitions beyond the occasional international tournament. Such opportunities are now increasing massively with the expansion and development of the game in the United States and China; the latter. it was revealed this week, aims to be the world’s premier league by 2050.
Ces Podd, Saint Lucia’s Technical Director and former Bradford City player, agrees.
“There is little doubt that there is young Caribbean talent but it’s difficult getting agents and scouts out here to look at them.” As far as the practicalities of playing in England, work permits are difficult to obtain since players need to have played a specific number of games for their country. Nevertheless, scholarships and degree courses are becoming a path into the British game and Holland an often used back door entry to the English and Scottish leagues.
“One initiative I am looking to develop,” explains Ces, whose legacy as former St Kitts and Nevis Technical Director propelled them to 90 FIFA places above Saint Lucia, “is to put together an elite squad of young players from across the Caribbean to showcase to professional clubs on tours abroad.” The financial reward for clubs has not escaped Ces’ attention with sell on clauses offering the opportunity for clubs to earn a percentage of the player’s transfer fees. However, he concedes that quality coaching is only part of the solution. “We need our national players to be competing more regularly against top class opposition.” He continued, “Trinidad spent two weeks on tour playing Central American countries in preparation for the tournament. We played St Kitts and Nevis, and La Clery.”
Yet youth development is both the most essential and yet the most difficult strategy to get right… and this cannot be achieved overnight. At various points in the 1990’s both Germany and Spain devised 15- and 10-year strategies, enabling them to go on to achieve World Cup and European Championships success. Talking to Saint Lucia head coach Cassim ‘Vaso’ Louis and his assistant, Alvin Xavier, there is no question as to where this should start. “The clubs!” declares the head coach who then goes on to animatedly describe a halcyon age of club football, including teams such as Shamrock and CYO, which fed international success with Saint Lucia in the Popham Trophy as well as being the only team to beat a Mexico team touring the Caribbean in the 1970’s.
“Each community had their own team. Marchand had Shamrock and CYO from the community across the river,” explains Alvin, his eyes sparkling as he recalls past glories. “As children we followed our team and wanted to play for them and that is how we got into football. Pitches were carefully cut and maintained by the club which itself was always well organised.” Both men went on to explain that the district teams which recently competed in the Blackheart knockout cup competition are not set up to foster and develop young players in the same way as clubs. Also the failure of district teams to meet the constitutional criteria of CONCACAF club competitions puts a ceiling on the ambitions of young footballers to showcase their skills on the highest stage.
Ces, who has a vision of turning Saint Lucia into a centre of footballing excellence, sees the introduction of an independent academy system in Saint Lucia as a major step towards solving the issue of youth development, providing both boys and girls with a streamlined pathway to the national team. However, having witnessed the resources available to most other Caribbean countries, Saint Lucia currently fails to compete on a level playing field – literally. Curacao, with a smaller population than Saint Lucia, has a number of G3 artificial pitches. From a coaching point of view, playing on good surfaces is imperative for the modern game, one very basic skill, ‘scanning’, is the ability of a player to run, pass and receive a ball with his head up. If the surface is uneven then the player has to concentrate on the ball rather than the game going on around him. In Spain’s example they introduced futsal from Brazil as a means of developing close ball control from an early age and which requires a true surface on which to play.
And this is where the organisation of the FA is imperative. Spain and Germany’s achievements at international level stems from the ability of all stakeholder groups – administrators, clubs, technical directors and government - to work together for the common goal. Conversely, the reason England has consistently underachieved at international tournaments is due primarily to the self serving and conflicting interests of the FA, the Premier League, the Football League and the players’ union, the PFA. As each body jealously guard their individual riches youth development remains an elitist cartel as Premier League academies exploit the weakness of smaller clubs.
In the same way the opportunity for the Saint Lucian FA to progress football is immense since the success of its Under 20’s, Under 17’s and the women’s teams to achieve such progress in their various tournaments is a testimony to the talent within the squads as well as its incredibly committed coaching team. To move the game on, however, requires some joined-up thinking between technical staff, the FA and support from both political parties to construct a robust and cogent ‘game plan’ which has the potential to attract both corporate sponsorship and FIFA funding.
All these initiatives require time and money but a combination of passion, vision and organisation is the turn key solution to achieving this and once more restoring once more football as a source of national pride.
Blaise Davies is a Director and Head of Strategy at Powell Financial Management Limited in Liverpool, England and is a former journalist. His son, Joshua Solomon-Davies, is right back for Saint Lucia Under 20’s and Tranmere Rovers in England.
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