Turks & Caicos Islands Preparing for the 2022 CFU Boys Under-14 Challenge Series
The Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Boys Under-14 Challenge Series has arrived yet again. The competition continues to aim to provide a chance for young football players to put their talents and capabilities to the test in this very competitive international tournament. The Challenge Series is scheduled to take place from August 11-22, 2022. All matches will be played in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
The tournament comprises 6 groups and will be played in a round-robin format, with each team playing one match against the other teams in their respective group. The teams are grouped into two tiers based on their previous performances in the competition.
The Turks and Caicos Islands U-14 boys team have been drawn into Tier II.
In their group, they will face off against the following teams: Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, St Maarten, and the US Virgin Islands. The top teams in the group stages will advance to the Cross Group Playoffs, the top four remaining will go to the semifinals and the last two will play for the championship.
Last year the Turks and Caicos Islands team was unsuccessful in their attempt to advance past the group stages. However, by the looks of it, the team and coach are very optimistic for an improvement on past results. Head Coach for the Boys Under-14 team, Omar Edwards, had this to say about the team’s preparations thus far, “The team is doing extremely well in training, they have gone through a handful of double session training sessions and are ready to make their country proud.”
These training sessions have been geared towards the players' refinement of their technical ability, tactical awareness, mental toughness, and emotional control on the pitch. Coach Omar affirmed that “So far the coaching staff is pleased with all the positive responses from the players so far.” This just goes to set forth the improved work ethic and readiness that the U-14 team is unveiling this year.
The team has been set in motion preparing for this competition since early last year. The team played three International matches against the US Virgin Islands U-14 boys team last year. Moreover, they have played a few local friendly matches against The Turks and Caicos National U-15 Girls team and the National U-17 Boys team.
It is evident that we can expect quality performance from the U-14 Boys in the competition.
