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Posted By: Marty FFB Cash Trap: Can Jaguars Pay for 3rd Round? - 06/17/15 11:24 AM

After an excellent performance on Sunday against the Dominica Republic, the Belize Jaguars are looking stronger than ever.

Hopes are high for the upcoming 3rd round of the 2018 CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers as the Belize team has grown even more confident and is performing better than ever, but will the Jaguars have the funding they need to travel for away games? That is the black cloud the team is facing as the Football Federation of Belize, FFB has announced that it does not have the funds to send the team on anymore away games, as the trip to the Dominican Republic cost over a hundred thousand dollars.

So what's the plan? According to Ruperto Vicente, President of Football Federation of Belize, Belizeans must unite as a country, support the national team and make history.

Ruperto Vicente - President of Football Federation of Belize

"Money is always a serious thing, there is always a question mark on that because to keep a national team and to have a national team going it takes a lot of money, this national team to get it to where it is it has cost us $8000.00 per week to; to keep our players and to feed them and to take good care of them, for these two rounds that we participated in it has cost us over BZ$400,000.00 it is an expensive venture and it is not an easy thing and so we have to be able to depend on the business community and on the population to carry this team out remember that this is not the FFB team, this is the national team, it is going to take all of us, it is going to take all of our effort to get this team forward and to move on." So what about the money collected during Sundays match? According to Vicente while money was placed in the coffers it is not enough.

Ruperto Vicente - President of Football Federation of Belize

"The monies collected actually covers what we have invested as well to assist going forward and to assist the Federation moving the team forward, it is not much it is going to help this Federation in keeping this team together, and the marketing department and committee are already putting plans together on how to raise funds for our national team and certainly the nation will come out to support the national team."

Despite the hurdle, Vicente remains optimistic of what the outcome might be. At the same time the FFB is happy with the support received from fans so far and asks that we continue sharing the passion for the game.

Ruperto Vicente - President of Football Federation of Belize

"Thanks to the fans, thanks to the nation that has supported the national team and we assure the public that the football federation of Belize will continue to do its best to keep our national team and to prepare them for future games to succeed and to go further in these tournaments, so I want to thank the nation for the support that they have been giving."

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