ALPHA United have hammered their way to being Guyana’s most successful club and by extension, one of the top teams in the Caribbean. But the club is on a different path; chasing a spot at the FIFA Club World Cup. However, the Guyanese must first compete in the CONCACAF Champions League – the confederation’s equal to the UEFA Champions League.

This will be Alpha United’s second outing at the CONCACAF showpiece, having first competed in 2011 with limited success.
Tonight, the Guyana National Stadium will host Alpha United’s first game of the 2014/2015 CONCACAF Champions League when they face Deportivo Olimpia of Honduras with kick-off time set at 08:00hrs.
The game will be televised around the world through Fox Sport and with Guyana on show, it would be interesting to see how Alpha United will measure up against one of Honduras’ top professional clubs.
While the composition of Alpha United’s club is mysterious, their roster is filled with players who have had some amount of success at the CONCACAF Champions League while playing at other clubs.
It will be déjà vu and a chance for Gregory Richardson to take revenge when he comes up against one of the teams who had defeated his former Club, Joe Public United, during their historic run in the 2008/2009 CONCACAF Champions League.
Richardson fell 3-1 and 4-0 to the Honduran club during the year when he found form and was the Caribbean’s top striker.
It was Richardson’s form in the 2008/2009 Champions League that landed him in the USA’s Major League Soccer (MLS) having been signed with the Colorado Rapids.
Nicknamed ‘Jackie Chan’, Richardson is by far Guyana’s top forward and probably one of the most skilful, given the fact that he can also fall back and play as an attacking midfielder.
Kithson Bain, Grenada’s most prolific striker will feature in his second Champions League after making his debut with Trinidad’s Caledonia AIA last year, even scoring in the team’s 5-1 loss to Mexico’s Toluca.
Boasting players from Brazil, Jamaica, Panama and St Vincent who have all represented their country at the highest level, Alpha United are poised to prosper.
Speaking with Chronicle Sport during an interview after the team’s practice last week, coach Wayne Dover said that he believes that this time around, the team is way better than the first one which was knocked out without winning a game.
Dover said that it’s important for Alpha United to progress, since it would reflect that all is not lost and Guyana’s football isn’t dead.
Meanwhile, statistics show that Deportivo Olimpia are Honduras most destructive side, having won 27 Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras with the most recent being the 2013/2014 title.
The club also features several players who represented Honduras at the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals in Brazil.
Written By Rawle Toney