Nations League boost
Fortunes change after nine years without a win
“There’s lots of young talent here ...but we’ve got to get them off the island as soon as possible to play” National coach Ben Pugh
Adopted from Europe, the Nations League idea has proved popular in the Caribbean in getting inactive national teams playing regularly and providing winnable games, with the Cayman Islands a shining example of how this has succeeded.
Placed in League C, Ben Pugh’s side won their opening game 2-0 in the US Virgin Islands and then shocked favourites Barbados, winning 3-2 on home soil in George Town. A 3-0 loss away to Saint Martin followed, but after wining their next two games they went into the final game in Barbados top of the table and in with a shot at promotion.
“I think they underestimated us in the first game,” says Pugh, who only took charge in May. And despite losing that final game 3-0 in Bridgetown, he can only see positives.
“We hadn’t won a game for nearly nine years and then we won four out of six,” adds Pugh, who was previously a coach in Ipswich Town’s youth set-up.
“The first thing I had to do was add a bit of structure and create a better culture. From there we were able to build a team of players who are hungry to succeed as individuals and as a team.
“The goal is always to win games and be typically hard to beat. We’ve started this. There is, of course, a way to go.
“There’s lots of young talent here, like Barry Tibbetts who is only 17 and has the potential to play at a higher level, but we’ve got to get them off the island as soon as possible to play.” One of the few players to try to make a career abroad is 20-year-old Anton Nelson, who played non-league in England at Bognor Regis Town and Llanelli Town in the Welsh Premier League before heading home last summer.
“I travelled to the UK with no club or opportunity and just contacted every club I could find in nonleague,” says Nelson. “My first season in the UK with Bognor was really a massive learning curve. I found the pace of the game was a lot quicker and you had far less time to make a decision.”
Nelson did not feature in the Nations League and neither did Elijah Seymour, who is with Voluntari in Romania. The only off-island player in the squad was Mason Duval, an 18-year-old left-back who is studying at Elon University in the USA.
“The Nations League has given our players a platform to show what they can do and test themselves against equal opposition,” says Pugh.
“It has also shown us that we have players who need a greater test than playing in our local league.”
To boost the domestic game there are now plans to include the national under-20 and under-17 teams in the first and second tiers respectively.