The 2010 World Cup will be held in Durban, South Africa. That's three years away, but the first ball will be kicked in February of 2008, which is just three months away. That's when round one of eliminations for the World Cup begins. On Sunday, Belize will learn which country we'll face in round one. But we still don't know who will be playing on our team. 40 football players have been called but at a press conference today, Football Federation of Belize President Dr. Bertie Chimilio said only about 25 players have showed up for national team practice.
Dr. Bertie Chimilio, President - FFB
"We've come up with a list of 30 players who have been invited and we'll continue to try to get them in. We have a group that has all the international experience, this list was compiled by the coaching the staff. We've had at least about 50% so far. 12 of those that have been called. Fortunately for us, the call went out for anybody and we've had some players coming from the amateur leagues showing up for practice. I think yesterday we had about 22 players.We always look for the best but again we cannot force the players to come if they don't feel like they should represent their country. We ask them to show up. Some of them do show up, others are waiting for the last minute to show up. We always pick the best we have but we tend to choose the players who we think are committed."
Of that field of 40 players, only 20 will be selected to play on the national team. The selection should be made by next month. The players are working under coach Palmino Jonathon Salas Sandoval. He is a Guatemalan who came to Belize 15 years ago as a football player and has coached at the semi-pro level. 4 players who you can expect to be on the team are Harrison Roches, Elroy Smith, Shane Orio, and Elvin del Leon. All four are Belizeans playing in football leagues abroad.
The draw to determine which country Belize will compete against in round one of World Cup eliminations takes place on Sunday morning at 9:30. There are ten possible opponents for Belize - Barbados, Suriname, Bermuda, Antigua, St. Kitts, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Bahamas, Nicaragua, St. Lucia, or Grenada. The draw is picked based on rankings; Belize and those countries are ranked in the bottom 11 in the region.
And while getting that national team together is one hurdle, another will be finding a place to play ball. That is because once again Belize doesn't have a FIFA certified stadium. Dr. Bertie Chimilio explained what it means to have no home court advantage in an international match.
Dr. Bertie Chimilio,
"None of our stadiums passed. We submitted the report to government. We've sought to have meetings with the Minister and we have not been able to meet him. I've tried to meet with people close to the minister and they have offered assistance to talk to the Minister and today we have not been able to do so. I have a letter from FIFA saying that unless we could show them or commit to them that we could be able to fix these stadiums then we will have to look for another venue in a FIFA inspected stadium. It's been ten years. We've been asking the government for ten years to please put a decent football facility in place. It has all fell on deaf ears and we continue to pay the price because we cannot play at home."
Chances are that next year will be a repeat of 2005 when Belize had to play both qualifying matches against Canada in Canada.
