What can we expect this year? there is an exciting buzz in the air
Current back-to-back champions SV Britannia defeated the top club SV Dakota for a second year in a row by PK’s in the final and they have no intention of letting go of the champions’ cup. A third consecutive title sounds great and would be a historic feat in our football, but there are other hungry wolves out there, beware!
A pre-season that lasted forever due to the shift to an October start rather than in September, which included lots of transfers, players moving around, trying to find an edge in the new season. Raymbert Bikker kept us afloat of all these happenings on the FA Facebook site, we have our own expert in that area on this island, our own Fabrizio Romano. there were so many transfers and changes that it is impossible to mention all in the article, but we certainly will mention the most impacting ones, for sure, with all due respect to all other football playes involved.
SV Sporting got the (snow) ball rolling after their promotion to the top league for the first time and started forming a team with some big names, which caused a domino effect in the league. Players like Rick Hodge, Ashton Charles, Owen v/d Wijne and also Emerson Leocadio, wait, and Jean Marc Antersijn is back in the league after some time as their goalie for this season. To make things more interesting, a last minute appointment of Maurice Escalona as their head coach. Dakota, La Fama and RCA were also all very busy on the transfer front, all trying to upgrade for this season. In general, there were activity by all other clubs as well. Bubali, Estrella, Nacional, RCA and La Fama, are all with new head coach this year, the league somehow has an influx of new coaches, interesting! SC United decoded to forfeit playing in the top league this year, Real Koyari was then asked to participate in top-flight for the first time in their history and try their luck so to speak.
Pre-season was also very productive for the two top clubs of last year. Bothe Britannia and Dakota found themselves playing abroad in different tournaments and winning. The Pumas for Piedra Plat had a strong participation in the Caribbean Club Shield in Trinidad, where they were unbeaten but by a small margin didn’t make the quarter finals against big clubs in the region. Then they travelled to Bonaire and competed for the ABC Unity Cup, playing against the champions of Bonaire and Curacao, they won the final by a big score against the Curacao champion Jong Colombia. Dakota also played against top Curacao clubs in Willemstad and came away as champions with the SUBT Cup. After that Dakota won the “Copa Don Mansur” beating La Fama in the final. Both clubs did well on the region, showing that our level is improving, no doubt.
Week 1
The first week offers us the following matches: take note that the games will still be played at Frans Figaroa rather than the newly refurbished CDGT to the disappointment of many footballers.
Friday 24 October – 20:00 hrs – La Fama vs Estrella – let’s see what happens with La Fama’s and their Canadian contingency, as two more players from the northern country were signed, joining Tinadio Makanzu and Anthony Walsh, the revelation of last year for the Green Hope of Savaneta. Veteran and former captain Sylvester Schwengle is also back home, Jair Faro also joined coming from Nacional. Estrella lost many players, but coach Lando Everon is optimistic holding on to loyal players like captain Naybert Elisabeth, Trevor Faro and Aldrin Lampe among others, and hopes their fighting spirit trickles down to the squad. Adryan Donaire also joined the Santa Cruz club and will be their number one goalie for the new season.
Saturday 25 October – 18:30 hrs – Dakota vs Bubali – the Fighting Bees are in “business mode” for this championship, they certainly have ‘unfinished business’ after losing two consecutive finals by means of penalty kicks, one year without losing any match in regular time. Coach Jonathan Lake took Dakota to so many finals in the last five years, winning two along the way. Dakota is one of the favorites to reach the final once again this year, they worked hard to improve their team despite already having a deep squad, they are backed by a solid organization lead by Carmichael Bikker and Gilmar Croes and company. On the flip side; the dynamic duo of coach Jaime Carasquilla and club executive Giovanni “El Toro” Croes, both responsible for building up La Fama into a top four team in the last years, are now starting a new project with Bubali SC, a club working on a new vision and is motivated to go up in ranking, to compete for top six, qualifying for the Gold League. The talented player Antonio Fawcett Jr has been a loyal soldier for SC United in many years but finally decided to spread his wings and started a new endeavor with a new club, good move by Bubali to get him.
Saturday 25 October – 20:30hrs – River Plate vs Real Koyari – River Plate found themselves playing in the Silver League (relegation league) last year after a slow start in the beginning of the season, but coach Juan Valdez did a good job with limited resources, managed to steady the ship and even won the Silver Cup. this year they are hoping for more stability for the onset of the season and hopefully reach top 6, a first step and hoping to improve from there. Real Koyari decided to give it a try for their appearance in top flight after United forfeited the chance to play once again in Honor this year. Koyari has many veterans on their roster, but coach Roland Rodriguez and team put together a team that also consisted of some former United players.
Sunday 26 October – 18:00 hrs – Sporting vs Nacional – a good match up for the newly promoted and busy club. Big names moved over to Sporting, but it is to be seen how fat the team can “gel” together as most haven’t played together before, it processes that takes time, a challenge, but Maurice Escalona has the right temperament for the role of head coach. Sporting’s captain and midfielder goalscorer, Leonardo Pulido will also will be facing his former club. Nacional had a very difficult last two years despite being a top 4 club for the longest with much big achievements under departing coach Dreyer Bracho, they won a lot with him, even the ABC in dramatic fashion. New head coach is Wilson Galeano, he will still have Devis Oliveros at his disposition, who doesn’t want Oliveros in their squad, one of the greatest goal-getters this island has seen in the last decades, he contributed so much to this league. William Pardo and Jean Pierre Heyden are also back home with the Dragons of Alto Vista and they also got Shaundrey Vrolijk from River Plate.
Sunday 26 October – 20:00 hrs – RCA vs Britannia – The biggest match to close this first week of competition. Keep in mind that clubs only meet the other once in this round, all the matches are important in this format, top six goes straight to Gold League and otherwise to Silver battling against relegation. RCA with their new head coach Erik Santos will be competing for sure, having some new additions like Jean Louis McKenley and Junior Mervielle, coming from rival Dakota, both very speedy attackers, together with Jean Claude Faro a utility player that can play in ball possession and recovery, and Ronaldo Valderama, a creative midfielder with good ball control, this concept by coach Santos may work. RCA finished third last season; I am sure they don’t like to settle for anything less than first. Britannia is still the top-dog in this league for the second year in a row, back-to-back titles prove that. The job that coach Renier Paraez and staff did in his first two full seasons with the Pumas is very commending. They practically have two squads and backed up by such a great organization under the leadership of Eddie Berg. Sebastian Montoya and Ashton Charles, two pillars in the last two years of success, are gone, but SV Britannia probably will thrive anyway. Players Derwin Donato and Carl Geerman are back home, and joining them is Joshua Aguirre, at one time a much effective player with Nacional, he is bound to prove himself again.
We will be updating a recap of the game results every Monday.