WORLD SERVICE
the 50th anniversary of the former
striker leading the club to their one
and only championship success.
Thursday December 19
CECAFA SENIOR CHALLENGE
CUP: Hosts Uganda beat Eritrea
3-0 in the Final to win the trophy
for a record-extending 15th time.
Defending champions Kenya finish
third after beating Tanzania 2-1 in
the play-off.
Friday December 20
GERMANY: Jadon Sancho fails
to score for the first time in eight
games as Borussia Dortmund lose
2-1 at Hoffenheim. The 19-year-old
finishes the calendar year with 15
Bundesliga goals, equalling the
record for a teenager set by Horst
Koppel for Stuttgart in 1967 and
Olaf Thon for Schalke in 1985.
Saturday December 21
ENGLAND: Liverpool are Club
World Cup champions for the
dopted from Europe, the Nations
League idea has proved popular in
the Caribbean in getting inactive
national teams playing regularly
and providing winnable games,
with the Cayman Islands a shining
example of how this has succeeded.
Placed in League C, Ben Pugh’s side won their
opening game 2-0 in the US Virgin Islands and then
shocked favourites Barbados, winning 3-2 on home
soil in George Town. A 3-0 loss away to Saint Martin
followed, but after wining their next two games they
went into the final game in Barbados top of the table
and in with a shot at promotion.
“I think they underestimated us in the first game,”
says Pugh, who only took charge in May. And despite
losing that final game 3-0 in Bridgetown, he can only
see positives.
“We hadn’t won a game for nearly nine years and
then we won four out of six,” adds Pugh, who was
previously a coach in Ipswich Town’s youth set-up.
“The first thing I had to do was add a bit of
structure and create a better culture. From there we
were able to build a team of players who are hungry
to succeed as individuals and as a team.
“The goal is always to win games and
be typically hard to beat. We’ve started
this. There is, of course, a way to go.
“There’s lots of young talent here, like
Barry Tibbetts who is only 17 and has
the potential to play at a higher level, but
we’ve got to get them off the island assoon as possible to play.”
One of the few players to try to make a career
abroad is 20-year-old Anton Nelson, who played
non-league in England at Bognor Regis Town and
Llanelli Town in the Welsh Premier League before
heading home last summer.
“I travelled to the UK with no club or opportunity
and just contacted every club I could find in non-
league,” says Nelson. “My first season in the UK with
Bognor was really a massive learning curve. I found
the pace of the game was a lot quicker and you had
far less time to make a decision.”
Nelson did not feature in the Nations League and
neither did Elijah Seymour, who is with Voluntari
in Romania. The only off-island player in the squad
was Mason Duval, an 18-year-old left-back who is
studying at Elon University in the USA.
“The Nations League has given our players
a platform to show what they can do and test
themselves against equal opposition,” says Pugh.
“It has also shown us that we have players who
need a greater test than playing in our local league.”
To boost the domestic game there are now plans
to include the national under-20 and under-17 teams
in the first and second tiers respectively.Nations League
offers new hope
Fortunes change after nine years without a win
A
Winner...Hwang In-
beom of South KoreaOn the up...the
national side“There’s lots of young talent here
...but we’ve got to get them off the
island as soon as possible to play”
National coach Ben PughCaymen Islands
STEVE MENARY
Stopped...
Jadon Sancho’s
run is over