The Cayman Islands and hosts, Puerto Rico, are both looking to top the Group tomorrow night when the first round of matches in the Digicel Caribbean Cup 2010 come to a close. Puerto Rico have maximum points with two wins so only need a draw to top the group – whereas Cayman need a victory because of their opening night draw against St. Martin.
St. Martin and Anguilla make up the Group and will also play each other in the last of the Group matches. Despite Anguilla’s competitive play however, they have no points on the board after losing against Puerto Rico and Cayman and are ruled out of going through to Stage Two of the tournament. St. Martin are second bottom in the Group having lost to Puerto Rico and drawing against the Cayman Islands.
There is still an opportunity for the three top teams in the Group to qualify as one of the best runner-up spots.
For Group B, the tournament moves onto St. Vincent and the Grenadines when the hosts will take on Barbados, Montserrat and St. Kitts and Nevis. Digicel St. Vincent and the Grenadines has been preparing for the DCC 2010 with a host of interesting activities including a Digicel-sponsored one day coaching clinic at the Arnos Vale One Playing Field on Saturday, where over one hundred young footballers were coached by members of the national football team for the day.
As well as receiving some basic practical instructions in the skills of the game, the enthusiastic bunch also received sports bags, footballs, water bottles, caps, snacks and drinks – courtesy of Digicel.
The Digicel Clinic was supported by the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation, whose President, Joseph Delves, gave brief remarks at a short ceremony to kick start the day’s proceedings saying he welcomed the initiative for aspiring young footballers.
Echoing President Delves’s sentiments, Digicel Group Head of Sponsorship, Karl Donnelly, said; “It is every boy’s dream to play for his country, so we were delighted to be able to host today’s clinic with footballers from the national team. There was a great turn out of young footballers and I hope they can use what they learnt here today to improve their game.”
The boys were selected from several local football clinics and youth teams, with coaches from the Digicel Je Belle Football Club putting the boys through their paces.
An interactive session with Coach Gordon also took place, involving a quiz and an impromptu talent search.
Boasting the largest cash prize for football in the region, the Digicel Caribbean Cup 2010 kicked off in Puerto Rico on October 2nd. The tournament will travel to St. Vincent and the Grenadines on October 6th, followed by Suriname and the Dominican Republic to complete Stage One. Some of the higher ranked teams – Cuba, Guadeloupe and Trinidad and Tobago – will join the tournament in the qualification stage playing across three host countries including Grenada and Antigua and Barbuda.
The eight best teams from the region will play in the finals in Martinique for the title of Digicel Caribbean Cup champions 2010 and walk away with US$120,000. Runners up will take home US$70,000 and third and fourth place winners will win US$50,000 and US$30,000 respectively. The top four countries will also advance to the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup in the United States.
Digicel announced its initial four year sponsorship of the Digicel Caribbean Cup in May 2004 and, in June 2007, extended its contract until 2011. Digicel has been involved in a wide range of football initiatives designed to support the development of football in the Caribbean and Central America. Digicel, which has operations in 32 countries worldwide, sponsors 17 Football Federations and Leagues, as well as the Digicel Kick Start Clinics and the Digicel Caribbean Cup.
