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Challenges! ... but Boyz arrive in Haiti for Qualifiers
Luggage hiccups as U-23s prepare to tackle Bahamas
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Jamaican striker Luton Shelton (left) checks emails and listens to music on his laptop computer yesterday at the Miami International Airport, while teammate Adrian Reid looks on. The Under-23 team was on its way to Haiti for the crucial CFU second-round Olympic qualifiers against the hosts and The Bahamas. (Photo: Paul Reid)
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Jamaica's Olympic team arrived in Haiti yesterday and immediately encountered what was described as a "minor setback" by team manager Howard Bell as they get ready for their opening CFU Olympic qualifying Group H game tomorrow.
The 23-man delegation arrived from Miami yesterday afternoon without nine pieces of luggage, including all their training and match gear, balls cones and other technical equipment.
The nearly 90-minute trip from Miami to Port-Au-Prince was dotted with several incidents as first the flight was delayed by nearly 30 minutes to fix a defective tail light on the aircraft.
The pilots aborted the first attempt at landing in Port-Au-Prince, pulling the massive A 300 craft back up after starting its descent, with no explanation, then circling the airport once before touching down.
In all of that uncertainty, a female Haiti passenger started complaining of chest pains and was attended to by a doctor who was on board and then taken off the flight by paramedics who were waiting on the tarmac when the plan landed.
Luggage belonging to several players, including England-based striker Luton Shelton, O'Brian Woodbine, Eric Vernon and team officials Bell and head of delegation Carlton 'Spanner' Dennis, did not arrive on the flight.
The team was given assurances by the staff of the airline that the missing pieces should arrive by 11:00 am today and can be collected at the airport.
Bell told the Observer last night that while the situation was a "minor setback", he hoped it will be resolved as soon as humanly possible", as the team has a training session planned for this afternoon at the Stade Sylvio Cator - venue for all three matches in the tournament.
Additionally, he said, the players and team officials were hoping to get a change of clothing as soon as possible after traveling from Jamaica early yesterday morning.
If the luggage did not arrive, he added, the situation could become an incident.
The missing bags which caused the Jamaican delegation to stay at the Port-Au-Prince airport for nearly two hours trying
to sort out the situation, also resulted in coach Wendell Downswell cancelling a planned trip to see the opening game between hosts Haiti and The Bahamas.
Downswell was hoping to get a firsthand view of the teams the Jamaicans will play tomorrow and Saturday, but the closest he got was the television at the airport.
Jamaica are due to open their second-round encounter against The Bahamas tomorrow at the Stade Sylvio Cator at 4:00 pm before taking on hosts Haiti in the final game on Saturday at the same time and venue.
Haiti opened the tournament yesterday with a 6-0 beating of the Bahamas in wet conditions, missing two penalties in
the process.
)Challenges! ... but Boyz arrive in Haiti for Qualifiers
Luggage hiccups as U-23s prepare to tackle Bahamas
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Jamaican striker Luton Shelton (left) checks emails and listens to music on his laptop computer yesterday at the Miami International Airport, while teammate Adrian Reid looks on. The Under-23 team was on its way to Haiti for the crucial CFU second-round Olympic qualifiers against the hosts and The Bahamas. (Photo: Paul Reid)PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Jamaica's Olympic team arrived in Haiti yesterday and immediately encountered what was described as a "minor setback" by team manager Howard Bell as they get ready for their opening CFU Olympic qualifying Group H game tomorrow.
The 23-man delegation arrived from Miami yesterday afternoon without nine pieces of luggage, including all their training and match gear, balls cones and other technical equipment.
The nearly 90-minute trip from Miami to Port-Au-Prince was dotted with several incidents as first the flight was delayed by nearly 30 minutes to fix a defective tail light on the aircraft.
The pilots aborted the first attempt at landing in Port-Au-Prince, pulling the massive A 300 craft back up after starting its descent, with no explanation, then circling the airport once before touching down.
In all of that uncertainty, a female Haiti passenger started complaining of chest pains and was attended to by a doctor who was on board and then taken off the flight by paramedics who were waiting on the tarmac when the plan landed.
Luggage belonging to several players, including England-based striker Luton Shelton, O'Brian Woodbine, Eric Vernon and team officials Bell and head of delegation Carlton 'Spanner' Dennis, did not arrive on the flight.
The team was given assurances by the staff of the airline that the missing pieces should arrive by 11:00 am today and can be collected at the airport.
Bell told the Observer last night that while the situation was a "minor setback", he hoped it will be resolved as soon as humanly possible", as the team has a training session planned for this afternoon at the Stade Sylvio Cator - venue for all three matches in the tournament.
Additionally, he said, the players and team officials were hoping to get a change of clothing as soon as possible after traveling from Jamaica early yesterday morning.
If the luggage did not arrive, he added, the situation could become an incident.
The missing bags which caused the Jamaican delegation to stay at the Port-Au-Prince airport for nearly two hours trying
to sort out the situation, also resulted in coach Wendell Downswell cancelling a planned trip to see the opening game between hosts Haiti and The Bahamas.
Downswell was hoping to get a firsthand view of the teams the Jamaicans will play tomorrow and Saturday, but the closest he got was the television at the airport.
Jamaica are due to open their second-round encounter against The Bahamas tomorrow at the Stade Sylvio Cator at 4:00 pm before taking on hosts Haiti in the final game on Saturday at the same time and venue.
Haiti opened the tournament yesterday with a 6-0 beating of the Bahamas in wet conditions, missing two penalties in
the process.
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