King: FIFA U-15 World Cup an eye-opening experience

H ead coach of the Barbados team to the Fifa U-15 World Cup in Azerbaijan, Stefan King, says the skill level on display during the competition has highlighted the work that still needs to be done locally, to bring players up to par internationally. The tournament marks the first time a Barbados national team has competed at a Fifa World Cup. Speaking exclusively to Barbados TODAY from Baku, King said the 8×8 format of the competition had highlighted areas where Barbadian players need to improve technically. Barbados opened its campaign with a 2-1 defeat to Kuwait, followed by 7-0 losses to Tajikistan and Spain and an 8-0 defeat to Chile. Coach King says the level of competition and quality of play have been excellent.

“You know, it’s been an unprecedented level of competition that Barbadian teams have never seen before and quite frankly, we’ve played the team that is ranked number one in the world (Spain) and the number 50 in the world (Chile) and all the other teams have just shown their quality and what they have to offer. “So although the scores are high, the format of the game allows for that. It’s a small-sided field with big goals and we’ve tried to compete to the best of our ability. We expected some challenges, but we can see the difference in technical quality and the physicality. Some of these boys even at the age of Under 15, are approaching six feet tall in some cases. For us it’s been a tough experience on the field, but it hasn’t deterred our spirit at all,” King explained. The head coach says one of the key areas that will need to be addressed going forward, is improving the technical ability of Barbadian players. “You can never be tactical if you’re not technical. Speed of play has to improve for Barbadian players, speed of thought also has to improve,…