By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas Football Association (BFA) has released the 20-man roster scheduled to represent the country in Group A of League C for the first window of the 2024 CONCACAF Nations League matchups.

The “Junkanoo Boyz” will begin the September window of the group stage today at 6pm (EST) against the US Virgin Islands in Saint Croix, US Virgin Islands at the Bethlehem Soccer Complex.

 The team will play their “home” game against Barbados at the same venue on Saturday at 3pm due to ongoing renovations at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium.

Named to the team roster are Michael Butler, Vance Wheaton, Alexiou Cartwright, Junior Kelly, Johnathan Miller, William Bayles, Michael Massey, Quinton Carey, Christopher Rahming, Wood Julmis, Lesly St Fleur, Brandon Adderley, Walter Sawyer, Nahum Johnson, Kai Perez, Rashaan Bain, Deron Ferguson, Jordan Cheetham, Nathan Wells and Luca Chiacchiari.

The team’s coaching staff includes head coach Nesly Jean and assistant coach Kevin Davies. 

Other supporting members are team manager Larry Minus, head of delegation Frederick Lunn and medic Daniel Miller. 

Assistant coach Davies expressed that there were some setbacks in terms of getting the group together for training, but he is expecting the team to perform well during this window. “I am pretty confident that we can do well. Now that we are here, the guys have become more focused. There is a lot of good camaraderie. We expect them to step up and perform at a high level. We are gonna train today to see how we want to start and go through some tactical stuff we want to do to get prepared for tomorrow,” he said. 

The 20-member group features a wide array of veteran performers and young players looking to make their mark during the group stage. 

According to coach Davies, the coaching staff is anticipating the seasoned and younger players to step into their roles and put on a good showing.

“There is a mix of veteran and younger players. We expect the veterans to lead like veterans and we expect some of the younger players to step up. This isn’t their first time even though they are younger players so our expectation is that they will step up, step into their roles and have a good showing,” he said.

The Bahamas fell into League C along with the US Virgin Islands and Barbados after being relegated in 2023. 

The ‘Junkanoo Boyz’ finished fourth in Group D of League B with a 0-1-4 (win/draw/loss record) last year. 

In the home and away series, The Bahamas suffered tough losses against Puerto Rico, Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda. The visiting team will now look to finish in the top two spots of Group A, League C for an opportunity to be promoted back to League B.

The senior men’s national soccer team is currently ranked no. 203 on the FIFA men’s world rankings. The US Virgin Islands sit five spots behind at no. 208 and Barbados is ranked the highest of the three teams in Group A at no. 177.

This is the first of three windows to be played for The Bahamas. The September window will be played from 2-10. The October window will follow from October 7-15 and the final window of the series will take place November 11-15.

The CONCACAF Nations League matchups serve as a qualifier for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup event scheduled for March 23 next year.