The Spiceboyz head outside of the Concacaf region to UEFA to play two important international friendlies this month as part of ongoing preparations for the Concacaf Nationsย League. The Senior Menโs National Team (SMNT) will play Gibraltar on March 23 at Victoriaย National Stadium at 6pm (GMT+1- 1pm in Grenada) and Andorra on the 28th at Estadi Nationalย Stadium at 8pm (3pm in Grenada). Gibraltar sits at 203 in the FIFA rankings while Andorra is ranked 155 as of February 10,2022.
Coming out of the recent camp held in January in the USA, the Senior Menโs National Team Headย ย Coach and staff were able to assess and develop a number of players who will go on to feature in the squad for the March friendlies.
Looking ahead to the matches, Senior Menโs National Coach Michael Findlay said, โWeโre extremely excited about the upcoming matches vs Gibraltar and Andorra in the March FIFA dates.ย ย This provides the program with the opportunity to compete against UEFA-based nations in our continued build-up to the 2022 Concacaf Nations League in June. These matches are a criticalย ย part of our 2022 overall plan for the SMNT which includes a regionally focused evaluation processย of our squad and the chance to engage in competitive matches vs recognized nations to assist inย ย raising our overall performance standards.โ
He further stated, โThis is also the first time the Grenada Senior Menโs National Team has traveled and competed outside the Concacaf region which provides us with those keyย ย experiential moments on and off the field and sends a message to our competitors that Grenada is serious about our long term plan and the overall growth of our program within the Concacafย ย region as we enter the bottom of the next cycle on the road to 2026 FIFA World Cupย Qualification.โ
Coach of the Andorra National Menโs Team Koldo Alvarez de Eulate is excited for the upcoming fixture saying, โGrenada is a very strong team. It is growing a lot and improving, as we saw in theย CONCACAF Gold Cup and the last Qualifiers. They are very strong physically and have a very high pace of play. For us it will be a very demanding game, but we will try to counteract all theseย virtues with our game.โ
President of the GFA Cheney Joseph wished the Senior Menโs National Team the best on their historic journey and said, โ The Senior Menโs National Team is on a transformative pathway and we are looking forward to seeing the teamโs performance in the UEFA region. The cultural andย technical exchanges will be very beneficial for the growth of the team and the programme setย for the rest of the year as we look ahead to the CONCACAF Nationโs League later this year.โ
The 2022 Competition windows are June and September for the Concacaf Nations League.ย ย Grenada will compete in League A along with the USA, Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, Panama, Elย Salvador, Honduras, Jamaica, Suriname, Martinique and Curacao.
