Women's soccer team trains in Santiago de Cuba
Havana, February 16 (RHC/ACN)-- The Cuban women's national soccer team will play against St. Vincent and the Grenadines this Wednesday in Santiago de Cuba in a match of the qualifiers for the World Cup in Australia-Lithuania.
Cuba is placed in group E of the qualifiers with the territories of Haiti, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the Virgin Islands, from where a qualifier to the final phase of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football qualifiers should emerge.
Edelsis Griego Cairo, technical director of the team, told the Cuban News Agency about the preparation of the national team since September 2, with highs and lows due to the Covid-19 infection of members and athletes injured by the physical load of training, after two years without being on the field.
He referred how in the first moments of the training they developed aerobic work to recover the sporting form and then technical aspects, where they articulated the team to the possibilities of the players and the work of outlining the positions.
We articulated the tactical functioning, fundamentally based on the security of the goalkeeper Aliannys Matamoros, on the offensive power of Katerin Rodríguez, with experienced players such as Rachel Peláez, Laura Moreno and new blood with quality athletes of the U-20 team, said the strategist.
He also thanked the authorities of the province of Santiago for the attention provided with the accommodation at the Hotel Crucero Aurora, the transportation and the constant concern.
Regarding Wednesday's game, he said that they will face it with the optimism of victory, although they have not had the opportunity to play international preparatory matches, but they played with the provincial team and the national team looked good.
He valued as praiseworthy the conditions of Cuba to dispute the first place of the group to the strongest rival, Haiti, because the confrontations between the two have always been tight and there are strategic possibilities to beat them.
Katerin Rodriguez, forward in the selection, expressed the unity of the athletes, who overcame a month of quarantine due to positive cases of Covid-19 and went back to the field to prepare again from scratch.
We will go out on the 16th to give everything in the game to take the first three points and I hope to score goals, always the satisfaction of everyone who plays my position," he said.
Ciro Escalona, vice-president of the Cuban Football Association, informed that the next matches of the national team will be on February 20 in Honduras against the Virgin Islands and on April 8 and 12 they will play in Cuba against Honduras and Haiti, respectively.
He said that representatives of clubs of the Costa Rican League will be attending these matches, and that they are interested in hiring other Cuban players.
Aliannys Matamoros and Katerin Rodríguez play under contract in the league of that Central American nation.
