Kulcha Yabra and FFB ?A? Tournament Champs Boca will be representing Belize. Joining Kulcha and Boca in representing their respective countries at the UNCAF tournament are Alianza and Club FAS of El Salvador, Real Espana and Olimpia of Honduras, Tauro F.C. and Plaza Amador of Panama, Real Esteli and Diriangen of Nicaragua, Herdiano of Costa Rica and Coban Imperial of Guatemala.

In an Amandala exclusive with Kulcha Yabra head coach, Marvin Ottley, he said, ?Any time you play international games, it?s challenging, and these games that we play next month will be challenging for us as a team. We are going in as Belizeans first. Kulcha is a team, but we are Belizeans and that?s what is important, that we represent Belize and Kulcha.?

Coach Ottley will be seeking his first career international win as the man at the helm for Kulcha Yabra. He already holds three championships in the BPFL and can be mentioned in the same breath with some of the well-known and successful coaches in the league. And he also holds one of the longest tenures at the head coaching job in the franchise. But his greatest accomplishment, if it does materialize, would be to advance to the next round in this year?s CONCACAF tournament.

Kulcha Yabra will be led by their core of players that includes Vallan Symms, Norman ?Tilliman? Nunez, Dion Frazier, and other standouts like Landy Pinelo, who was a Kulcha player in their last championship run. But they have also gone out to acquire other players from other clubs to strengthen the team.

They have 2003 League MVP, Elroy Kuylen, currently training along with Wilson Brooks from Orange Walk?s Juventus, Jarbi Alvarez and Orland Lyons, both of whom did a tour of duty with the Kulcha club in one of their championship runs. It has been confirmed that Sagitun championship players, Marcos ?Magoo? Souto, the Brazilian midfield import, and Hilberto Muschamp, will be a part of the team. ?Magoo? did work within the Kulcha system for a few weeks, and so did Hilly, who won a championship with them.

?There is continuous talk about ?Colombia.? We?ll try our best to see how we could fit him into the system. This is our important week, so everything we are and have been talking about, must be accomplished by this weekend,? said Coach Ottley. If they would be successful in getting Deris ?Colombia? Benavides to make the trip, Kulcha would be a team that the others in the tournament need to worry about.

Coach Ottley told Amandala that he had an opportunity to view a 5 minute video clip of Alianza and just by that clip, ?It shows that they have very good midfielders, especially with the two Uruguayan imports, so their midfield area is really strong,? he said. The coach said that with Ernest ?Rasta? Wilshire, ?Calbo? Usher, Marcos Souto, Emory Nunez, Colombia Benavides and Elroy Kuylen, they could match the Salvadorans and mark up pretty well with anything in Central America.

The forward line of Kulcha Yabra remains pretty much the same with Norman Nunez, Landy Pinelo and Dion Frazier. At press time, however, we have learned that Dion Frazier had suffered an abdominal strain before the Aradia game at the Benque Fiesta last month, so he is being carefully monitored since the injury. Kulcha?s trainers, according to our sources, are optimistic about Frazier?s condition. Frazier is an important piece of the Yabra puzzle and not having him ready for the tournament would certainly be a kink on the front line.

Though it may be premature in saying that Kulcha Yabra has a better counterattacking game than Alianza, after all the only video they have seen of their opponent, Alianza, is the five minute clip, Coach Ottley says that they will try to use their quick counterattacking ability on the Alianza defense that appears to be a bit slow.

One of the key factors in being successful in the tournament is to cut down on the spacing that many of the international teams are familiar and comfortable with. It is also said that Belize plays a physical style of football, to which Coach Ottley says, ?Certainly, for us to gain the respect of Central America, they have to feel us and the only way they can feel us, is if we bring it to them. We gotta maintain that it?s one of our strengths in our game and despite what a lotta people would say, you gonna get cautioned and fined for it, but I prefer to be fined and let people know who we are.?

Kulcha Yabra will be led by the legendary Norman Tilliman Nunez, one of the league?s top strikers, along with Hilberto ?Hilly? Muschamp, who can play just about any position on the field except for goalkeeper. Hilberto can be counted on to provide offensive support. He brought back a beleaguered Sagitun squad from the brink of defeat following the first game of the 2004 BPFL playoffs, and he was responsible for the win in Belmopan, assisting on every goal in the overtime win at the Isidoro Beaton Stadium to qualify for the next round of the playoffs.

There is a toss up right now for the starting goalkeeper position right now because Stanley ?Jordan? Reneau, Yabra?s second string goalkeeper, left the country earlier this week on vacation. At the present moment, Elias Pelayo is the starting goalkeeper, but they would need an additional keeper. We inquired as to the availability of Shane Moody-Orio, since he was the starting goalkeeper when they won the championships. We were told that he is available but some things other than financial obligations are being considered. Another name that is being tossed around in trying to get a solid last line of defense is veteran keeper Charlie Slusher.

In preparation for the CONCACAF Tournament, Kulcha Yabra have scheduled a few friendly matches. They will be playing Kremandala Lake 7:30 p.m. Saturday, August 28, 2004 at the MCC Grounds. Kremandala Lake have been reported to be the rookies of the next scheduled BPFL season. Two international matches are on schedule but haven?t been confirmed, Victoria of Honduras is scheduled for September 5, 2004, and Aurora of Guatemala is currently scheduled for Thursday, September 9, 2004.