All at sea
World Cup qualifying begins as Caribbean nations grapple with pandemic issues
COVID-19 has further exacerbated the difference between the minnows and the maestros in world football,” says St. Lucia men’s national senior team coach Jamaal Shabazz.
In the Caribbean, the World Cup qualifying campaign is easily the most illustrious competition that most islanders get to see. It is the only time that fully professional players from nations like Mexico, the United States and Costa Rica turn up at the arrivals lounge.
For the Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifying series though, the region’s hopes of glorious contests against CONCACAF’s top guns look gloomy, as football has taken a backseat to the pandemic. At the moment, “the beautiful game” is in the trunk.
All over the world, business has made concessions to the coronavirus. The problem is, in the Caribbean, football is considered an amateur past time by most regional governments – and receives precious few exemptions to operate.
Caribbean Football Union (CFU) president Randy Harris, who heads an organisation that accounts for 25 of CONCACAF’s 35 FIFA-recognised football nations, is afraid that the region may be half-baked when competitive action kicks off in March.
“From the first round, the World Cup qualifiers are usually broadcast and it gives players the opportunity to show their worth,” said Harris, who is also president of the Barbados Football Association (BFA). “If they are not properly prepared, they may not be able to exhibit their real quality…we have to find new ways to handle this situation.”
The problem is three-fold. First, most of the islands – unlike the rest of the world – have not had domestic football since March 2020. Domestic football is not a money-spinner in the Caribbean and often does not draw heavy spectator interest in the way that regional cricket does, so governments have not made allowances for its resumption.
Coaches, as such, have a tricky balancing act as they attempt to blend non-competitive localbased players with their active overseas-based counterparts. It was at least part of the issue on February 1, when Trinidad & Tobago head coach Terry Fenwick took a patchwork team to Orlando to face a second-string USA outfit. They were mauled 7-0, a record-equalling defeat for the twin-island republic.
Trinidad & Tobago, like Haiti, are under the thumb of FIFA-appointed normalisation committees, after differing issues brought the nations in conflict with the global governing body.
“Everybody [from the other Caribbean nations] who laughed at Fenwick, they’d better be prepared to face the same situation according to who they play,” said Shabazz.
The second issue is team preparation. An upshot of amateur leagues is that most Caribbean national coaches usually get more training time with their players throughout the year. Yet differing COVID-19 protocols on the islands have created an uneven playing field in that regard.
Barbados, for instance, suspended all sport and instituted a nationwide curfew after a spike of 70 cases at the start of February – on an island of just over 287,000 people.
On the other hand, Dominica, who share Group D with Barbados and have a negligible infection rate, have had a core of 27 players training for five days a week since the start of the year, under head coach Rajesh Latchoo.
The third and most serious issue regards travel and quarantine.
A new FIFA missive states that clubs are not obliged to release players if they are subjected to more than five days quarantine during an international match window. In the Caribbean, the standard quarantine period is 14 days – and as yet there is no sign that regional governments are prepared to bend for football.
So how can FAs manage when they are expected to play home and away fixtures within three days of each other?
For Shabazz, the uncertainty reflects a crisis of leadership. He noted that the Caribbean Premier
League (CPL) cricket tournament and the Cricket West Indies (CWI) were able to find solutions by engaging with regional governments.
The CFU, in his opinion, was not nearly as proactive.
“I understand this is not a cut-and-dry issue and we have to come up with plausible medical options,” said the St. Lucia coach. “For instance, I think the CFU could have engaged the services of two private epidemiologists for advice and let everyone contribute to that investment. This was an opportunity to work together as a Caribbean people for a solution.
“Coaches get fired for not getting results, players get dropped for non-performance. What yardstick
“Coaches get fired for not getting results, players get dropped for non-performance. What yardstick do we use to measure the performance of our administrators?” St. Lucia coach, Jamaal Shabazz
do we use to measure the performance of our administrators?”
Some nations have found short-term solutions. The Dominican Republic, which shares Group D with Panama, Dominica, Anguilla and, ironically, Barbados, does not have a mandatory quarantine period for travellers. So, the five nations agreed to play all of their March qualifiers on that island.
Harris said the COVID dilemma was a matter best resolved by individual nations, rather than Caricom.
“We can only appeal to our individual nations because COVID protocols are different in some countries than it is in others,” said Harris.
Harris pointed out that CONCACAF and CFU have held meetings on the issue and he was not about to point fingers.
“There has been talk of withdrawals by some nations but we still have some time to go, and maybe a number of them can get something in place with the co-operation of their respective [political] leaders,” said Harris. “Normally if you forfeit your games there is a penalty but we are making appeals to FIFA that, under the circumstances, maybe that can be reconsidered.
“I think FIFA and CONCACAF have already done us favours by rescheduling the games. This is the third time already, and because of the magnitude of the World Cup they just can’t continue doing it. “The World Cup is next year and there must be qualification for it. So it is up to us now to find a way.”
Harris still hopes the Caribbean’s current flag-bearers can challenge for a spot in Qatar. Jamaica and Haiti were losing semi-finalists at the 2019 Gold Cup while Jamaica were runners-up in 2015 and 2017.
“When we look at Jamaica, who are always up there, and Haiti and their performances in recent times, I’d expect good performances from them,” said Harris. “And you also have to watch out for Curacao who now have Guus Hiddink as their coach with the experience that he brings to the table.
“Those three nations have the majority of their players paying outside of the Caribbean, so they will not be as affected as some of the other nations in the region.”
Preparation and co-ordination remain key for the Caribbean. Trinidad & Tobago’s recent excursion to the United States shows what may lie in store if they get it wrong.