It’s likely no one has been following this, but Antigua Barracuda FC, which is supposed to open its third USL Pro season three weeks from today, is looking like a club that’s not long for this world.<\/p>\n
Last October, two months after a 5-18-1, last place league finish and a week after the Benna Boys (who made up much of ABFC’s roster) finished their World Cup qualifying campaign with an 0-4-1 semifinal record,\u00a0 coach Tom Curtis resigned\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>(he ended up directing Bristol Rovers’ academy).<\/p>\n When the USL Pro schedule came out<\/b><\/a>, Barracuda FC had no home games (with no mention of that uncommon proposition from the league,\u00a0but a head-scratching explanation\u00a0from the club’s CEO<\/b><\/a>), and they planned to use fewer home-grown players,\u00a0opting instead for a more regional, Caribbean approach<\/b><\/a>, with the intent of finalizing the roster in the middle of last month.<\/p>\n Well,\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>didn’t happen, and February came and went\u00a0and they still had no players and no coach<\/b><\/a>, and the mid-February trials\u00a0turned into early March trials<\/b><\/a>\u00a0and while\u00a0that was cutting it pretty close<\/b><\/a>, they said they’d be ready, no worries. Then\u00a0their domestic league’s top scorer opted to play for Charlotte<\/b>\u00a0<\/a>instead of Antigua,\u00a0and just this week\u00a0the local paper said the club’s participation in the season was “doubtful”<\/b>\u00a0<\/a>because they hadn’t submitted player registrations by the deadline (which was more than a week ago).<\/p>\n But, wait! This morning,\u00a0we learned that all is well and good<\/b><\/a>, they’ve scrounged up “14 or 16 or 18” players and despite “some financial difficulties” (not foreboding\u00a0at all<\/em>), they’ll be ready to go in three weeks’ time.<\/p>\n I don’t know if the other 12 teams are paying Barracuda’s expenses (they’d been helped out by their FA while World Cup qualification was still a [pipe] dream) or what, but 26 road games over the next four-plus months with an uncertain roster and unstable infrastructure sounds like a recipe for disaster.<\/p>\n Given USL’s track record in the Caribbean<\/b><\/a> (and the NASL’s recent troubles there<\/b><\/a>), perhaps our leagues should just stick to the mainland. I can’t see any way this particular story ends well.<\/p>\n