NATIONAL Club champions, Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United, yesterday announced that they will be beefing up their side ahead of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Championships.
The Guyanese are grouped with Walking Boys FC of Suriname and Bath Estate of Dominica for their group matches which will be played at the Georgetown Cricket Club ground (GCC) Bourda on March 24, 26 and 28.
Club president Odinga Lumumba says that the cost to host a leg of the tournament will run his side in the vicinity if six million dollars since they are responsible for housing the teams and transporting them to and from games and practice.
He added that, however, that cost would be lessened with Alpha being set to receive a subvention from the CFU, but when asked to disclose the expected sum, Lumumba pointed to the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) stating, “I can’t say right now but I think the Federation would be able to disclose that when it’s available”
Alpha United will be playing against mostly professional clubs in the CFU and CONCACAF regions and as such Lumumba stated that he has to step up the strength of his team to match the competition that waits.
He said “to beat the best you have to get the best” and at yesterday’s press conference, three Jamaican players were introduced; Troylan Williams who plays for Mountain View, Peter Gordon of Santos Football Club and Jermaine Allen who plays his game with Tivoli Gardens FC.
“We want to bring in about six Jamaican players to try out with our club, as a matter of fact, we’ll have tryouts with local players as well because we want the best players, and I’m not saying that those that I have are not good, I can’t, because we have been winning all the time but I want the best players for this tournament, this is a big tournament and to play with the best players you have to get the best players in your club,” Lumumba added.
The primary focus apart from winning according to the Alpha boss is having his players exposed through the tournament which according to him is highly used by overseas scouts to retrieve quality players.
“Look, I say to my players plenty times, stop worrying about the small money in Guyana, the opportunity is when you get exposure and other agents can get to see you. Take for example Jackie Chan (Gregory Richardson) and some of the other guys, it’s because of their participation in these tournaments scouts were able to see them, so I think this would benefit the players mostly,” said Lumumba.
This is the second time that Alpha United will be taking part in the prestigious club championships. They were booted by Haitian side Tempete FC on a home-and-away basis.
Club captain Howard Lowe yesterday said that the lessons from their first showing was well learnt and the players are applying themselves now to make sure that history doesn’t repeat itself.
“We learnt from our mistakes the last time so now, everyone is working hard; so I think we are going to do much better than the last time. We are having some new guys but they are just as happy to play like we, so I think we will play well and come out on top,” said Lowe who is also the captain of the Golden Jaguars.