The Central American Cup begins this Friday with Belize taking part on the opening day against hosts and reigning champions, Panama. On his appointment as Belizean coach last January, Jose de la Paz Herrera said, “It’s all a challenge. This is what attracted me most to the Belize proposal. There is a lot to do, and we are starting from almost zero.” Whilst the team has only played two official internationals during his reign, the improvement in their standard of play has been tangible. A goalless draw with Trinidad and Tobago back in September in the first international to be staged in Belize in over a decade was an outstanding result, whilst a draw or even a victory against Guatemala the following month looked possible until the unfortunate sending-off of Ian Gaynair meant the team had to play most of the second-half with ten men, eventually succumbing 2-4.
Having coached his native Honduras at the 1982 World Cup Finals in Spain and through three other qualification campaigns, Herrera has a wealth of international experience, all of which will be needed as Belize face a gruelling programme of three games in five days in Panama. Belize has previously competed in six Central American (UNCAF Nations) Cup tournaments, the first being in 1995. The team is still awaiting its first victory, having drawn three and lost fourteen of their seventeen matches. Their best Finals result was in 2001, a 3-3 draw with Guatemala, although the 1-1 draw in a 1997 preliminary round aggregate defeat against Panama was arguably a greater achievement. The FFB has decided not to enter a team for the competition - now in its tenth year – on three separate occasions: 1991, 1993 and 2003.
A place at this June’s CONCACAF Gold Cup is the ultimate dream. Being realistic, the team’s best chance of achieving this is through the fifth place play-off game, likely to be against Guatemala. Qualifying for this, however, will almost certainly mean having to win one of the opening group games. The first match against Panama will be decidedly tough. With a difference between the two nations of over one hundred places in the FIFA world rankings, the best that The Jaguars can realistically hope for from this game is a narrow defeat. The same could also be said of the second match with El Salvador, who although enduring something of a lean period in international football, has a young, talented squad and a rich football pedigree. The third and final fixture with Nicaragua represents Belize’s best opportunity of gaining that elusive first victory. Following their appearance at the 2009 Gold Cup, the Nicaraguans have played only one competitive match in eighteen months (a 0-5 defeat to Guatemala last September) and although they are still ranked slightly higher than Herrera’s men, it is to be hoped that this lack of preparation can be capitalised upon. Also, the omens for a Belize victory look good when you consider that the majority of the nation’s few international successes have come in friendly matches against Nicaragua, including their best ever win of 7-1 in April 2002.
Most importantly though, the current Belize squad is the most talented, experienced and desperate to succeed group of players that the country has ever assembled, and in Coach Herrera they have the man to finally put Belize on the football world’s map.
Belize were beaten 0-3 by Marathon of Honduras in a pre-tournament friendly at the weekend.
Group A fixtures
14th January
El Salvador vs Nicaragua
Panama vs Belize
16th January
Belize vs El Salvador
Panama vs Nicaragua
18th January
Nicaragua vs Belize
Panama vs El Salvador
Group B fixtures
14th January
Costa Rica vs Honduras
16th January
Guatemala vs Costa Rica
18th January
Honduras vs Guatemala
5th place match
21st January
3rd Group A vs 3rd Group B
Semi-finals
21st January
Winner Group B vs Runner-up Group A
Winner Group A vs Runner-up Group B
3rd/4th place play-off
23rd January
Loser semi-final 1 vs Loser semi-final 2
Final
23rd January
Winner semi-final 1 vs Winner semi-final 2
All games are taking place in the Estadio Rommel Fernandez in Panama City.
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