Photo: Top: Idania Ruiz; Bottom (l-r) Mikhaila Bowden and Khalydia Velasquez
Lady Jaguars ranked 26th; Jaguars ranked 29th in Concacaf
BELIZE CITY, Mon. Oct. 2, 2023
Three of Belize’s female national team players were named by Concacaf to their “League C Best XI” after a great 2-0 start in the Road To W Gold Cup competition.
The release last Saturday states that the “… players delivered top performances over the course of the matches”, and theirs stood out the most at their respective positions.
Named was goalkeeper Idania Ruiz, about whom the release gushed, “Belize could not have asked for a better start to their campaign than with two clean sheet victories, helped by Ruiz’s two saves and two clearances”.
Dynamic defender Mikhaila Bowden, according to the release, “… made her presence felt at both ends, scoring the first goal of the game in both the 2-0 opener versus Aruba and the 3-0 victory against Bonaire”.
And rising star, young Khalydia Velasquez, one of our forwards, “… had a pair of second half goals to make sure Belize would have no problems with Bonaire in their 3-0 victory”.
Belize blanked Aruba (2-0) and Bonaire (3-0) in their opening games to lead League C Group A. Belize will play the Turks and Caicos Islands there on October 25, before a return match here at home on October 29. They finish off their League C Group A assignment with away games at Bonaire on November 29, and in Aruba on December 3.
Belize’s ladies national football team is currently ranked 26th by FIFA among Concacaf’s 41 teams, ahead of Aruba (30), Bonaire (37), and French Guiana (38).
Belize’s football fans will, however, be turning their attention to the progress of the male senior football team which began play in the third edition of the Concacaf Nations League last month with a 1-2 loss to St. Vincent and the Grenadines on September 8, and a 2-0 victory over French Guiana on September 12.
The Jaguars will next play Bermuda in a home and away fixture on October 13 in Belize, and on October 17 in Bermuda.
They will play their return match against French Guiana on November 17 at the FFB Stadium on November 17, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines on November 21.
The 2023-24 41-team Concacaf Nations League began on September 7 and will conclude with the Concacaf Nations League Finals in March 2024. Belize is in League B Group C along with French Guiana, Bermuda, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
The Jaguars are currently in second place in the group’s standings, trailing St. Vincent (2-0-0) but ahead of Bermuda and French Guiana, who both sport a draw and a loss with no victories.
French Guiana’s male national football team is currently ranked 15th by FIFA in Concacaf’s 41 teams, with the St. Vincent & the Grenadines being 28th, Belize 29th, and the Turks and Caicos Islands 35th.