Today, CONCACAF finally announced the draw for its 2013 Gold Cup to be held in US in July. And Team Belize will have some very tough match-ups because they have been place in Group C. This means that they must go up against USA, Cuba and Costa Rica. Viewers may remember that Belize came in 4th in the 2013 Copa Centroamericana; Costa Rica won that tournament, and defeated the Belize Selection as well.

Team Belize is currently trying to get past the setback of the departure of Coach Leroy Sherrier, and according to an Executive Member of the FFB, they're trying to build confidence in the players.

To deal with the tough set of games in the Gold Cup, he says that Team Belize will be playing a series of friendly matches, starting with the first against Trinidad and Tobago:

Marlon Kuylen - Executive Member, Football Federation of Belize
"Well firstly, the Trinidad & Tobago football selection will be coming to play against us either on the 22nd or 23rd of March - for a friendly match. We were selected to go there, but because they have a match against Peru on the 26th, they thought it best that they could come here first and then we do the second leg in Trinidad."

Daniel Ortiz
"What sort of preparations are being made for the team- have they already been in camp, have they been reactivated; what's the status with the players?"

Marlon Kuylen
"Not as yet. As soon as the coach comes back - interim coach comes back from Chicago, which will be later this week, and then we'll call the players to camp. What we'll do is we'll build - we have a core group of players, and as you know, we needed mid-fielders to compliment the defense that we have. So, that's what we're going to be focusing on. What we've been doing is more of a moral support behind this coach. What we're going to do now, is when they come back, as I've said, we'll bring the players into camp, and we'll have to have meetings with them, and reassure them that we're not losing a step. This interim coach will take care of business for right now, and then were looking at options right now to replace coach Sherrier. First of all we have to look at Trinidad. Trinidad isn't taking Belize lightly; in fact they have 8 players playing abroad in Turkey, Kazakhstan, Belgium, and the USA and their bringing all their players. So firstly, we'll focus on Trinidad, and then we'll look at the other teams that will be playing in the gold cup."

Belize plays USA on Tuesday, July 9 in Portland, Oregon, and they then play in Costa Rica in Salt Lake City, Utah on July 13. In the final game of their first round appearance, they will go up against Cuba in Hartford, Connecticut on July 16.

Channel 7