TO LEAD THE WAY: Captain and playmaker, Norman Forde, will have a key role in tonight's away World Cup qualifier against Dominica. (Picture by Charles Pitt-Grant.)

by EZRA STUART

in Dominica

BARBADOS' FOOTBALLERS will be in for a major surprise when they oppose a new-look Dominica team in the away leg of their 2010 World Cup first-round qualifying match at the Windsor Park Stadium here tonight.

When the match kicks off at 7 p.m., a day after the Dominica carnival festivities ended here with two successive bank holidays, the 142nd-ranked Barbados, will be encountering a completely different team from the one they blanked 5-0 in a friendly international at the Grand Bay ground in Geneve in 2006.

Ranked 188th in the world, the Dominica Football Association (DFA) went on a rewarding recruiting mission in the last few weeks and brought in eight foreign-based players from England, the United States and Canada to boost the team's chances of defeating Barbados for the first time.

In line-up

According to their coach Ericson Christopher, five of them, headed by striker Richard Pacquette, who plays for Harvent and Waterlooville in the Southern Conference in England, will be in the starting line. The others are midfielders Ryan Edgar and Daniel Leslie-Francis of semi-professional side, Canvey Island, defender Delbert Daley, who is at college in the United States and the British-based talisman Joel Etienne-Clarke while former Windwards and West Indies reserve wicket-keeper Wayne Phillip will start in the defence.

"We expect a very competitive game, but it will be different from the last encounter we lost 5-0. Tactically and technically, our team, which was enhanced by overseas players, is better. At the moment, the spirit in the Dominica team, which has been in camp for the past two weeks, is extremely high and we are very confident," coach Christopher said yesterday.

More guarded

But Barbados' technical adviser Keith Griffith was much more guarded about the outcome of the match, which will be refereed by Costa Rican officials.

"We still need to score early to take the vocal Dominica crowd out of the game. Despite we didn't have many warm-up matches, everybody looked comfortable during the first training session here [Monday night]. At stake is an opportunity to play the United States in the next round, so that should be motivation for the players," Griffith told MIDWEEK SPORTS.

The match-rusty Bajans, with a solitary friendly international in the last nine months and without English-based professionals Paul Ifill, Mark McCammon and Louie Soares, will be hoping to return to the 2006 winning ways when they enjoyed a nine-match unbeaten streak and soared 52 places in the global rankings to 93rd.

The Bajans visited the refurbished Windsor Park Stadium on Monday night and most of the players seemed overawed by the maximum size outfield of 120 by 85 metres. Some even quipped that it was twice the size of the YMCA. They were due to train on the match surface last night and will return for
a light early morning fine-tuning session today.

"The conditions will be a little difficult with the rain falling [early in the week] and we got to be careful and cautious in the opening 15 to 20 minutes as we settle down and adjust to the much bigger size and bounce of the field," Griffith said.

Four players

It will be interesting to see what starting line-up Barbados will use with only four surviving players in captain Norman Forde, his predecessor John "Nobby" Parris, sweeper Rommel Brathwaite and front-stopper Dwight James from the last World Cup campaign in 2004 when the team failed to get past the first round, losing 2-0 and 3-2 to St Kitts.

There are many striking options with new overseas player, 20-year-old Dagenham striker Jonathan Nurse, the English-based Retford United forward Neil Harvey, 2007 Barbados Football Association's Player Of The Year Dwayne McClean and Dwayne Stanford.

Reveire Williams, who returned from a training attachment in Argentina with McClean last Saturday, may be used
in an attacking midfield position, alongside the play-making Forde with Elvis Defreitas in a defensive-midfield role. Room may also be found for the evergreen Parris as his long throw-ins and heading ability will be assets while attacking midfielders Jeffrey Williams and Rondelle Vaughan may come off the bench.

With Brathwaite returning as sweeper from injury to play behind front-stopper James and Bryan Neblett being the only genuine wing back in the side, the flat back-four format employed against Antigua and Barbuda at Carlton last month when the Bajans came from behind twice to triumph 3-2, will be altered to accommodate Jonathan Straker and lanky Argentina-based defender Barry Skeete.