– Sampson confident as Fruta awaits new tournament dates
Without its challenges, Fruta Conquerors Football Club was pumped about participating in the now-canceled CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield tournament.
Comprising 14 Caribbean teams, the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield, which was slated for play from April 23 to May 7, has been delayed until further notice.
Fruta Conquerors Football Club, located in Tucville, Georgetown, would have been Guyana’s representative to that competition.
Guyana Times Sport reached out to the Club’s Head Coach, Sampson Gilbert, who chose to force the CONCACAF organization to make the decision as many teams experience travel difficulties among other issues.
“During that time, CONCACAF realized that many other countries may have been experiencing difficulties. They even had the two Jamaican teams that pulled out of the Champions League, the CONCACAF Champions League, and other countries would have been experiencing those difficulties, ”explained Gilbert.
“So I thought, on the basis of everything that’s happening, CONCACAF thought it was wise to cancel the tournament until more favorable circumstances existed in the football community, in the world at large.”
Expressing confidence in the unit at Tucville, Coach Sampson explained that due to the current severity of the pandemic, the club had to make adjustments to its training schedule.
Coach Sampson gave the following assurances, “Fruta Conquerors is undoubtedly ready. At the moment, because we are still in preparation mode, the fact that there are some warnings of variants of the coronavirus that could adversely affect you, we are observing all the protocols, and we will not training as consistently as we would have wanted, had the tournament come up on the 23rd. “
Nevertheless, whenever CONCACAF is ready for the towurnament to be played, Fruta Conquerors would also be ready. And, in Sampson’s view, the team would bring their ‘A’ game into the competition.
“We’re going to look at the whole scenario and look at our training schedule from a more objective perspective based on postponing the tournament. But then we need to keep preparing ourselves, because whenever the tournament is held, we want to be able to compete.
Explaining what he was saying, he added, “Not just to participate, but actually projecting this tournament. So, our readiness is obvious. We are still preparing, but obviously, as I said, we have cut down on our training time. ”
As Guyana’s Elite League Champions, this was the second time in a row that Fruta Conquerors had qualified for the tournament.
Drawn in Group C, the Guyanese club would have come up against Hope International FC of St Vincent and Grenadines Racing Club and SV in Aruba.
To date, the team has received donation support from the Guyana Lottery Company and Everest Cricket Club. Foreign Minister Hugh Todd, while visiting the team during a rehearsal session a few weeks ago, has also pledged the Government’s support to the team. (Jemima Holmes)
