ST GEORGE’S, Grenada, May 23, 2011 – The Grenada National Football Team received a devastating blow to its preparations for the CONCACAF Gold Cup Tournament in the United States next month. Following an extensive exchange between Head coach Mike Adams, and Carolina Railhawks’ Head coach, Martin Rennie, striker Kithson Bain has been withdrawn from the Spice Boyz roster due to injury. Coach Rennie, informed Adams that Kithson had been making good progress with a torn quad muscle, but it had broken down again last week. Kithson has not played a competitive game since playing in the Antiguan pro league three months ago and was due to return to action in the next couple of weeks. "This news hurts us, as we were looking forward to welcoming Kithson home this week, he has a good reputation in the Caribbean and his name on a team sheet earns respect from the opposition,” Adams told the GFA’s website. “I spoke with both Coach Rennie and Kithson earlier today and felt that the player should remain with his club as the level of treatment and access to remedial resources is better where he is. He is going for an MRI scan on Thursday and the extent of the damage will be known then,” he said. He said that these types of injuries are a minimum of two to three weeks and usually longer “so the reality is that would count him out, particularly, as he has played no competitive games”. “We also, have to look at the rules for replacements this late in the preparations, a regrettable situation that we will have to adjust to." Four of the five UK-based professional players arrived in St George’s on Sunday evening and will join a training camp which began on Monday. The Spice Boyz play Antigua in a friendly on Friday before departing for Panama and the Cayman Islands for other friendlies ahead of their in Los Angeles on June 3. looks like the panama friendly is back on after all.
This is a big blow for them and with Facey only just recovering from his shoulder injury and Bubb having hurt himself about a month ago (though he did play 120 minutes not too long after) Grenada's strikeforce could be a little weak.
to be honest i'd be more worried if it was an important defensive player.. if you were to tell me shalrie is hurt/not taking part or we have to start p modeste & A modeste together on the back line then i'd be more worried, but anything upfront is not a huge worry. the most important thing is being able to contain the attack from the other teams.(defense is key) especially against a speedy Jamaican team,a technically sound Honduras side and im not underestimating Guatemala . lets be honest here we were never going to got gun anybody in this group but if our defense can show up and keep us in the game then that gives us a shot, if grenada wins any of these games it's because the defense stepped up. don't get me wrong its a big lost but everybody knows playing good defense is to key to winning. a forward is the easiest player to replace on a football team, with good service from your midfield any pro should be able to create chances upfront. a forward can't cost you a game but a weak defense can. (defense is key to Grenada's success) if anything this is bubb's opportunity for his coming out party. he's a free agent so he's playing for a big contract,there's already talks of him signing with teams in the championship league in the UK. not to mention the fact he knows shouts will be watching him. its just good to see that GFA has a bunch of friendlies lined up.
So if Bain is out they will need to call up a replacement...maybe Denron Daniel or Danny Facey. Its a long shot but I did read that Jason Roberts is in Grenada.
they got big exception for the youngster clive murray. the coaching stuff thinks he's the future of the team. they wanted to have a good look at him and gave him the start in the Antigua game. he scored both goals.. the first 1 coming is the first 3 minutes of the game. many people feel he has the skills to be better than kithson bain, his on the ball skills is better than kithsons right now. he's not expected to see any real minutes in the gold cup because of his lack of experience on that level. he also just moved up from under 21 to the full squad. but you an expect to see him in these up coming friendly's. he's a part of both the under 21 & the full squad. they feel like they have a future star which is why he's getting the start in the these upcoming friendly's.
Shalrie Joseph drops out...it says groin injury but seems more like a weak heart to me. http://mikebas.blogspot.com/2011/05/shalrie-joseph-withdraws-from-grenadas.html
im disappointed in the way he handled the situation but i can't blame him. who pays his bills ? the new england revs, who puts food on his table ? the new England revs. he is in a contract year so he stayed with the team that provides for him. but that fake injury story is laughable. that means a midfield featuring a 35 year old patrick modeste and a 35 year old ricky Charles, yikessssss!!!! i say just play all the young players for experience. patrick modeste, Anthony modeste & ricky charles should all come on as subs. with no news of kithsons replacement getting approved they might be going into the gold cup 2 players short. starting 11 should be Baptiste Straker, Marshall , Johnson, cyrus rocastle, rennie, facey any of the young midfield players. bubb, murray if your moving forward and thats your new core give them the experience now. i believe some of these younger players are actually better than the vets. but how do you tell the vets we're putting you on the bench after they've been dictated to team for the past 10 years ? its up to those players to say time pasted me by coach let these youngsters play. i will celebrate the day the modeste brothers and charles get out of the way and allow the program to grow.
Last night (as far as I could tell) they had Marshall at right back and Nixon at centre half, both did OK there. Murray was on the wing along with Straker while Patrick Modeste and Ricky Charles were in the center and that was the problem area. Facey was winning everything in the air and was responsible for Grenada's only three half chances. I disagree, if you can still get the job done as well as anyone else and are dedicated to the cause why not keep on playing. Too many players retire early from international football these days. Its a shame Shalrie Joseph and Jason Roberts don't have the same commitment as the Modestes and Charles. People say the same thing about Kevin Kilbane for Ireland because he is "holding out the younger players." However, his replacements have proven they aren't ready, he has proven he can still do it, and, where Kilbane never fails to show up for any match, some of the younger guys couldn't be bothered to show up for the post-season Nations Cup.
when the modest brothers played in the grenadian leauge their team finished last!!!!!! i rest my case. get them out of there and let future play.
big worm did you not see Antony modeste do this at the 09 gold cup ? [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbBKt-UN_HA"]YouTube - Best Goal Haiti v Grenada‏[/ame] in the panama game did you not see him kick the ball at the head of the Panamanian player and caused the first goal ? he could not make a simple clearance. now i know why shalrie stay with his team. (he's one of the worst players on the team and he's the captain) [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLnhGj7EjDk&feature=player_embedded#at=63"]YouTube - PANAMA 2 - 0 GRANADA‏[/ame] this guy should be the last opinion off the bench but the GFA is scared to bench him because he represented the team for over 10 years so they sacrifice the growth of the team to make him happy and the rest of these 35 year old's happy. the best thing that can happen to Grenadian football is the retirement of these 3 men.
Yeah I've seen those and a few others and I definitely don't think he should be playing in the center of defense. The problem is Langaigne was even worse when he came on for Cyrus (though that was at fullback). I guess they could move Marshall in to the center and Straker to right back or try Shanon Phillip there. I agree with you that they probably shouldn't be starting and if either Modeste is to play it would have to be in midfield but its not their fault they want to represent their country, its up to the coach not to pick them. With Joseph withdrawing and Neckles not being selected I assume it will be Rocastle in the center along with one of those three and I'm not sure there is a better option than that. Recently Barbados decided to kick two of their older players who were both pretty good and highly experienced to the curb and have struggled since then.