CAY HILL--The St. Maarten National Football Team will continue training three times a week in preparation for the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) Nations League competition which kicks off in the fall of 2019.
The dates of the matches have been set, but the schedule is yet to be made. Match Day 1 and 2 will be September 2 and 10. Match Day 3 and 4 will be October 7 and 15. Match Day 5 and 6 will be November 11 and 19. The semi-final is set for March 23 and the final is planned for March 31.
The Competition will be divided into three leagues based on the qualification rounds. The top teams will compete in League A, the mid teams in League B and the remaining 13 teams in League C.
St. Maarten will play in League C Group D against Guadeloupe and Turks and Caicos. St. Martin will also play in League C but in Group A with Barbados, Cayman Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The two sides of the Friendly Island faced each other in the last match of the qualifying round in March. St. Maarten won 4-3 in a match played in Anguilla as Raoul Illidge Sports Complex has yet to be certified ready for international play.
“Our team is improving steadily,” said Head Coach Elvis Albertus. “The French side clearly underestimated us. They thought we would stay back and play defence as we had in our early matches,” admitted Albertus. “We felt St. Martin was our equal so we attacked. We caught them off guard and won.” The first goal of the match was scored in the 10th minute. It was an own goal that gave St. Maarten the lead.
Early in the qualification process St. Maarten lost to Haiti 13-0, and to Bermuda 12-0. In the third round of qualification St. Maarten faced Dominica. The National Team lost, with a score of 2-0.
“Now that we are at this level, we have a budget to bring in players.” said Albertus. The players must all have St. Maarten roots, and the travel expenses are covered by the competition. St. Maarten brought in a few players from the Netherlands and from Curaçao.
“We probably have the youngest team in the competition,” said Albertus. “We are building for the future and it is exciting to see the progress the team makes after each game.The plan going into the summer is train three times a week and play as many games as possible. “We are looking at taking the fellas to other islands, and even bringing teams here.”
