VI boys’ football teams bring home silver and gold from Caribbean Showcase

Source: BVI Football Association

The BVI Football Association and their national Boys U10 and Boys U13 football teams have outdone themselves yet again after returning from Puerto Rico with a gold and silver medal respectively in the 4th Global Premier Soccer (GPS) Caribbean Showcase tournament held January 25 – 27, 2019.

GPS hosts on average 44 tournaments each year between various states in the USA and the Caribbean Showcase held in Bayamon was one of their newest additions. It provided the children in Puerto Rico and the neighboring region the opportunity to play against some of the top footballers in the Americas without having to travel too far from home.

The Virgin Islands easily being the smallest participating territory has had its best results to date with a win in the Boys Under 10 category and placing 2nd in the Boys Under 13 category.

The VI U10 Boys – named U10 Rock BVI – first matched up with GPS Guaynabo where they won 2-0.
Rock BVI played GPS Aquadilla and won by 3-0 in the semi- finals and went on to the finals where they obliterated SA United from Massachusetts with a 7-1 hammering, to become the 2019 U10 Boys Champions.

Meanwhile, the U13 Rock BVI Team opened their account with a 1-1 draw against Athletico San Juan, with Adrian Padillo scoring the equalizer.

Game two against GPS Aquadilla ended in a tame 0-0 draw. The final game for the BVI U13 Rock saw them defeat GPS Guaynabo by 3-1. Joel Mars out of Virgin Gorda scored for the BVI while the talented Azarni Callwood found the back of the net twice to ensure the victory.

Coach Dan Neville expressed his delight with the overall success of both teams stating, “this result shows that the attitude and application by both teams during the games and in the build up to the tournament went well for our national teams and is a clear indication of them being able to make the transition as they move on to play at higher levels. Both teams played physical and very attacking football. What we are focusing on now is ensuring that we teach the same style of football at all ages so players get to learn their positions well and are able to make a smooth transition as they move up in age groups.”

President of the BVIFA, Andy Bickerton, was elated with the results saying that he was especially pleased to see the younger teams do well as this fits right into his dream of seeing a truly local VI team with youngsters born and brought up through the BVIFA system, participate and do well at the highest level in football, which of course would include the World Cup.