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GOLD CUP 2007: THE MAGIC GWADABOYS IN CHICAGO !

GOLD CUP 2007: THE MAGIC GWADABOYS IN CHICAGO !

{After they beat Honduras (2-1) last Sunday in Houston, the Guadeloupe National Team (also called Gwada Boys) is marching to the semi final in Chicago next Thursday. Could they surprise Hugo Sanchez‘s Mexico? From now on, all is possible, because the Gwada boys are simply magic… but where do they come from? What about football in Guadeloupe?}

POINT A PITRE, Guadeloupe: For their first Gold Cup tournament, the national football club of Guadeloupe (a French and Creole speaking island in the leeward Caribbean) doesn’t cease to surprise all observers. Just before their last match against Honduras (classified as 54th on the FIFA listing) it’s quite certain that nobody in Central America (Honduras, Mexico) had ever heard about Guadeloupe.

But it’s not the same for the Guadeloupean football players. Most people in the world know Les Bleus, the French national team, winner of the World Cup in 1998 and a finalist last year in Germany against Italy.

So, no one can ignore that several of the best football players of the French national team are from Guadeloupe or natives of Guadeloupe: Lillian Thurman, (Barcelona), Thierry Henry and William Galas (Arsenal), Ronald Zubar (Marseille), Louis Saha (Chelsea), Mickael Sylvester (Manchester), are some pillars of the ‘Bleus’.

During the last ten years Guadeloupe has produced some of the best players of France’s team.
But, in Guadeloupe (also called a French overseas department) football is not a job; when a young player is noticed by French recruiters, he is immediately transferred to some French or European teams.

Actually, he could have about 100 pro football players, coming from Guadeloupe or born in France, but with Guadeloupean parents. Meanwhile, in the island, the Guadeloupe championship has some difficulty in attracting spectators. They had all the same words, “It's better watching Europeans or Latin American matches on TV than going to see the local teams on stadiums of Guadeloupe.” It’s is not unusual to hear people complaining about the standard of football in Guadeloupe.

But after this Gold Cup epic, it’s clear that things will change here in Guadeloupe. Why?

First of all, when the Gwadaboys‘ coach, Roger Salnot, decided to call some players from
France many people asked if he was right… But he didn’t take such a decision alone. Some years ago, Jocelyn Angloma, Guadeloupean-born, former pro for Inter Milan, Valencia, Marseille, and the French national team, decided to come back in his island, and play with his first local team in Guadeloupe, “The Star”.
The arrival of Angloma in Guadeloupe, changed the situation and immediately the Gwada coach called some pros from France to play during the Digicel Cup.
After the historic victory against Honduras, the Gwadaboys are the only and last Caribbean team in the Gold Cup.

In Guadeloupe, regional executive, Victorin Lurel, has decided to organise a special flight to Chicago next Thursday, to support the team in the semi final.

From now on, FIFA authorities will face a serious political problem. During this Gold cup ‘epic', Guadeloupe is still a French overseas colony of France in the Caribbean, playing against independent countries, but if the Gwadaboys win the Gold Cup they would not qualify for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa, because FIFA doesn’t recognize Guadeloupe as a country.

But, next Thursday in Chicago, the Gwadaboys won’t think about this problem; they will simply be happy to represent all the Caribbean, against Mexico… a new step in history.

{{By Danik Ibraheem Zandwonis}}

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