WITH just two days to go before Guyana’s Alpha United open their 2014/15 CONCACAF champions League title chase, the club is making it clear that they are prepared and raring to face Honduras’ Club Deportivo Olimpia at the Guyana National Stadium. 

The game marks the second time the Guyanese team have qualified for the CONCACAF equivalent to the UEFA Champions League, dating back to 2011.
“It’s just a matter of taking the field now,” said the team’s president Odinga Lumumba at a press conference hosted yesterday at the Water Chris Hotel.
Alpha United are placed in Group 5 of the Champions League along with Major League Soccer (MLS) side Portland Timbers and Honduran Champions Club Deportivo Olimpia.
The tournament, which is played in a round-robin home and away format, will see Alpha United first host Club Deportivo Olimpia on August 5 then Portland Timbers on August 19 at the Guyana National Stadium.
Alpha United will then travel to Honduras to face Club Deportivo Olimpia on August 28, after which a trip to the USA will see them play Portland Timbers at Providence Park on September 23.
“We’ve been encamped for over three weeks. We have about 20 players and two more to be added. Got two Nigerian players to come in but they are having some visa problems,” Lumumba said.
The country’s top-club president expressed thanks to the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) who he said have helped to alleviate the headache of finding training venues.
Meanwhile, coach Wayne Dover after the team’s practice session at the GPF ground at Eve Leary, told Chronicle Sport that his players are patiently waiting to showcase Guyana’s rich talent in the sport.
Dover, Guyana’s best coach in the sport, said that the tournament is important for not only Alpha United, but also for the country, since it would be the only shining light at the end of the tunnel for the sport which is stagnant.
According the Alpha United coach, his team is made up of some of the best players drawn from Brazil, Panama, Jamaica and Grenada, blended with Guyana’s most outstanding players, to form what he assures is a winning formula.