BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):The Barbados captain, Norman Forde, is anxious to shock more fancied teams at the 2008 Digicel Caribbean Championship finals as he and his teammates take aim at their first-ever regional title.
The Barbadians, currently ranked No. 4 in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) behind Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, travel today to Kingston for the Digicel finals starting this week.
They open their campaign on Wednesday against the Reggae Boyz, before facing T&T on Friday and Grenada on Sunday, December 7.
Forde believes the Barbadians can match any side in the region and could go all the way.
Confident
"We just need to beat Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago," he told reporters after the team's training session on Saturday.
"I am confident we will get past Grenada and I think we can get into the final," Forde added.
The Barbados 18-man squad for the tournament reflects a rebuilding unit although the 37-year-old veteran Gregory Goodridge was recalled recently for the tournament.
Goodridge, who was on the Queen's Park Rangers premiership roster in 1995-96 and also played in England's lower leagues with Torquay United, Cheltenham and Bristol City, has not represented the country since the 2006-07 Digicel finals.
His long-time international teammate John Parris, 36, had been recalled for the qualifying phase a few months ago and has been a standout.
Forde welcomes the veterans but remains very impressed with how young, new players in the squad have risen to the senior programme.
Impressive
"These younger players have done very well," Forde said.
"It is very impressive the way they have stepped up to this level and the presence of the veterans will be good because we have young players who will need the leadership," Forde said.
The Barbadians are on a five-game unbeaten run in the 2008 Digicel Championship.
They had won against British Virgin Islands (2-1) and St Kitts and Nevis (3-1) in Group D first-round play in September, and held current Caribbean No. 1 Cuba to a 1-1 draw in Havana where they also beat Suriname 3-2 and the Netherlands Antilles 2-1 in second-round qualifying in late October
