Belize’s football is currently ranked three places below Barbados but that Central American country’s team has nonetheless managed to hold the islanders to a goalless draw in a friendly fixture played on the island.
The Bajan Tridents’ failure to score was a let-down for Barbadian fans who suffered a similar indignity of seeing their country being held to a goalless draw back in March against Bermuda, another team ranked below Barbados on the FIFA scale.
Speaking after the match Sunday, May 3, Barbados Football Association Technical Director, Ahmed Mohammed said despite being held down by the two lesser ranked sides in the international friendlies, Belize and Bermuda must be seen as different opponents posing varied challenges and therefore they could not be compared.
“Those were two different games. We know how Bermuda was playing, and Belize is totally different. In the future, we must focus more on our final third and as we know, that is mainly our weakness. But as you can see, we could keep the intensity, we could dominate the game and put a lot of pressure on our opponents,” Mohammed said.
In spite of Mohammed’s bravado the fact is that the Bajan Tridents are set to take on much stiffer competition in the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football [CONCACAF] Nations League that begins September 08, and their showing so far against weak teams is less than encouraging.
The Tridents still have a chance to make amends before the CONCACAF encounters as they are set to face the Belizeans in a return match on this Central American country’s home turf in August.
Mohammed that said his boys need to work harder on finishing in the final third of games.
“When we go to Belize August 4th, our plan will be the same. It doesn’t matter if they are home, strong or not because in October El Salvador is waiting on us [for the Nation League Competition] …We are ready for them [Belize] and going forward we will work on our finishing and it will come in time. The most important thing was to keep the intensity of the game and we did that,” Mohammed said.
Barbados now sits at number 160 in the world in FIFA rankings with Belize at 163, and Bermuda 178.
