Egbert Lacle, General Secretary of the Aruba Football Federation believe there are tremendous benefits to be derived by member associations in the Caribbean through its participation in the CONCACAF Caribbean Shield along with the League Development and Club Professionalisation Workshops currently being staged by CONCACAF in Santiago, Dominican Republic.
Lacle witnessed the first victory by Aruban club champion Deportivo Nacional 2-0 win over Guadeloupe’s CSR in Group A action at the Estadio Cibao. The win kept Nacional’s hopes of advancing to the semi-finals alive and a potential spot in the 2018 Scotiabank CONCACAF League.
“I think it’s a really good idea by CONCACAF to have these two workshops here at the same time that we have the CONCACAF Caribbean Shield going on which means it's a good moment also for the Associations and the Clubs to see how the match operations are being done at CONCACAF Level,” Lacle said on Monday.
“It will also include aspects of League development, competitions and how to manage clubs and basically everything you can do to raise the standards of your clubs and your competitions back at home,” Lackle stated.
The CONCACAF Caribbean Shield in particular, he explained is a new incentive for clubs such as Nacional who are not regularly exposes to international compeitions.
“It means we are participating in a competition on a level where can compete with the teams from the rest of the region. We know we can get good results and that will have a positive impact back at home. It’s a good learning moment for a club such as Nacional because playing at home is one thing but being able to play international is totally different,” Lacle continued.
With regards to the impact that Caribbean Shield participating and potential qualification for the CONCACAF League can have on member associations and leagues, Lacle said the benefits can be numerous.
“It helps us to raise the standards on how we organise our league, how the clubs organise themselves and these aspects will help us to have a stronger competitions and ultimately our national team.”
He also commented on ways Member Associations and its National teams can strive towards greater heights through participation in the CONCACAF Nations League which kicks off in September, 2018.
“This is a very big boost for our national team. It means we will be playing international games on a regular basis which is one of the weaknesses we had in our football with our national teams not playing enough international football. With the CONCACAF Nations League we now have more time and more exposure and it's definitely a very positive,” Lacle concluded.
