At the top of the news we told you about the bittersweet sendoff for the national football team. Hopefully, the team – which, being from Belize – is used to a certain level of sustained drama – can look past its current distractions – to play the game of their lives on Tuesday night in Portland. Jules Vasquez, who will be following the team in Portland, looked ahead to what they'll encounter when they get there.
As they boarded the plane today, the Belize team travelled over 3,500 miles to get to Portland Oregon, where they will arrive tonight at 11:30 - 12 hours of travel.
They'll be tired but after a night of rest at the luxury rooms in the Nine's Hotel, they'll no doubt be eager to take the less than one mile walk east to the Jeld Wen Stadium where they'll be playing on Monday night against the home team USA.
Jeld Wen is the home stadium of an MSL soccer team, the Portland Timbers, and is a modern facility which received a 36 million dollar renovation in 2011.
The seating capacity is over twenty thousand and you can expect that on Tuesday night at 8:30 local time which is 9:30 Belize time, it will be close to capacity for a summer game under the lights - Belize vs U.S.A.
Apart form the home crowd the biggest challenge for the Belzie team is exected to be the very new and very fast artificial turf.
The US selection they are facing does have respect for them though. Coach Jurgen Klinsmann is quoted as saying,
"Belize, the way they played in qualification, we watched all their games, they will give us a lot of issues as well."
So, they've earned respect, but the question is, can this team shock the world?
By Tuesday night we'll know.
Jules will have reports from Portland starting on Monday of next week.
Those wanting to see how the US team looks can tune in to Channel 7 at 9:00 tonight when they play Guatemala in their only warm up match before the Gold Cup. We note that the US Selection does not include many of their top players, who are getting time off to rest before they return to their European Clubs for the 2013-2014 season.
Channel 7 will also have extensive coverage of the Gold Cup including, of course, the Belize game. Cup play starts on Sunday at 3:30 when Mexico faces Panama.
