Barbados Men's National Team Coach Optimistic After Three Match Wins in Concacaf Nations League

Head coach of the Barbados men’s national team, Kent Hall is confident that his team is on an upward trajectory, after winning three games in a row in the Concacaf Nations League. The Bajan Tridents dominated the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) 5-0 on Wednesday night at the Wildey Astro Turf, a Niall Reid-Stephen hat-trick clinching the top of the group, and a return to League B.

But Hall cautioned against complacency in the wake of the biggest victory ever over the USVI, telling the media and his players that the national team needs to find another gear as they prepare for a higher level of competition. Despite his confidence that the performances and results will keep improving, he was adamant that the team must be diligent in applying its quick, dynamic style of play.

“But of course we’re not aiming to stay where we are,” Hall pointed out. “We want to keep pushing further and further. And so we understand that means that we have to be able to now apply this level of performance against opponents that might challenge us more.”

Hall acknowledged that job number one was to win the group. But he explained that with the possibility of a Gold Cup play-in looming next month, it’s crucial that the national squad finish with as many points as possible to ensure themselves a more favourable draw.

“We know that the qualifiers for Gold Cup are coming out of the Nations League format so the higher you finish amongst the League C qualifiers, arguably the better matchup you have against the League A qualifiers,” he detailed. “And so we want to put ourselves in the best position that we go into that having a shot, right.

“We want to dream big, and we want to continue to aim for that. So that’s job number two. So we got to get out there against Bahamas in another six days, and we got to do it all over again, and just as good as tonight.”

Redi-Stephen took his goal tally in national colours up to eight, with seven of them coming in the last five matches. The young player has been striking the ball with an increased sense of surety, but he’s not had to manage the scoring load alone, with different contributors popping up throughout the current Nations League campaign.

“We’ve had a lot of different goal scorers, which is also really encouraging,” Hall noted. “And it’s good to have someone with the quality that Niall has, that can be a focal point for us as well, and can bring other people into the game. So something you just want to keep building on. We know that we need to be able to put the ball in the net if we’re going to win matches, so yeah, absolutely thrilled that we got it over the line five times today.”

The head coach also had high praise for the younger players, two of whom he blooded in Wednesday’s game. Omari Leacock finished off the game with a goal of his own in time added on. He said that the team is building a big core that can get results for Barbados, and he is looking forward to keeping the wins coming for as long as possible.

But even in the afterglow of a big win, Hall was looking for ways in which his team can get better going forward as they prepare to play the Bahamas next week at home, and as they look down the road, back in League B, and perhaps in the Gold Cup.

“Enjoy it while it lasts, and try to keep it lasting as long as you can,” he said. “But we know these things never last forever. So it’s important for us to, whenever you win especially, it’s easy to to look past the things that you didn’t do as well.

“And so we still have to review tonight, you know. We got to get over our ourselves and stop gloating and, you know, be like, yeah, okay we needed to do this better. This is somewhere that we can improve. Because, again, we know if we continue this way we’re going to face tougher and tougher opposition. So those I’s and those T’s need to get themselves looking proper if we’re going to be able to keep it up.”

(TF)